Hearkening to Destiny
by Nixie-poo
Summary: Kara, Sora, Riku, and Kairi grew up together on the islands as best friends. In a fierce battle between light and darkness, how will they ever stay together? Or, will they be apart forever?
1. Prologue

_When you walk away_

 _You don't hear me say please_

 _Oh baby, don't go_

 _Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

 _It's hard to let it go_

 _Hold me_

 _Whatever lies beyond this morning_

 _Is a little later on_

 _Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all_

 _Nothing's like before_

* * *

 _"Why... do I have to be alone..."_

 _The voice echoed through the darkness as a purplish orb of false light drifted alone in an abyss of emptiness. Having embarked on a long and dark journey, the tainted orb finally reached its final destination._

 _A life of wicked darkness in the past was surely to be the end of it, which was evident by the fractured form sinking into the deepest depths of eternal darkness._

 _Now, because of the actions taken in that past, the lack of a body was its fate. Alone and for forever, it would seem. This tainted light knew what it lacked, but pondered over why it had to be so... miserable._

 _There had to be a way to escape the loneliness. If only it were possible to not be alone in the darkness._

 _"This... This is the end?" spoken in an echoing voice, the light sunk deeper until finally making it to an illuminated platform. The platform it hovered over was cracking away at one point and chipped away at a slow, steady pace. "I don't want... this fate."_

 _From somewhere unknown, there was a whispering. It was far away at first, thought the lonely and despairing remnant. But, then the whispering became louder and surrounding._

 _Giggles?_

 _It must have been a child's voice riding in the wind. "Hi!" an upbeat and cheerful voice popped up from out of nowhere. The suddenness of it was nearly startling. So... friendly._

 _"Hello?" answered the fractured orb. Just then, a mysterious light appeared from up above and descended into the chipping platform. Compared to the tainted light, this one was truly brilliant and warm. "Who are you? No... What are you? Tell me why you are in this place."_

 _"A new heart!" it replied in a bubbly tone. "I heard someone crying, and a light lead me to you. Why are you so... sad and lonely?"_

 _Silence fell upon the sorrowful and corrupted light. A strange light appeared from the unknown, the other side of a mysterious veil. It spoke so kindly and straightforwardly._

 _Disgusting._

 _If there was to be anything coming for the broken heart, then it should have been eternal darkness. It was already wicked enough for the severe punishment._

 _ **Repulsive**_ _._

 _The utter thought of being helped by this fresh light was enough to make the darkest of the dark flee in horror. "This is what is left of mine," said the dark light. "Leave me alone! I don't need anyone. Even if... I am to fade away completely."_

 _The newly born heart was confused by such a response, for it was also repulsive. Why would anyone reject a offering of help? To make the unwanted feel wanted was what it wanted to do. Yet, the warm light refused to be scared away. It was determined to save the damaged._

 _"There's no reason to fade when you have me," the gentle voice dismissed the rude words as nothing, proceeding to reach out to the one who needed its light. "Join with my heart, and you won't have to be lonely anymore. I'll be your friend!"_

 ** _Two hearts merging into one._**

 _The very idea sounded ridiculous, but the fractures were filling in the platform. No more did it break away into nothingness. And, in a matter of moments, it became whole. Both hearts made the effort to touch one another, darkness to light and light to darkness. Something new was created as the void was filled._

 _"Now you won't have to fade away," the heart of light giggled again, feeding the darkness with something whole. "I'll help you regain what you lost. Then you won't have to be stuck in the darkness any longer."_

 _"Right." Although reluctant at first, the darker half sampled the real light. How long had it been since it last touched the light? It felt quite nice._

 ** _"What I lost... will be mine again."_**

 _It was as if their hands were reaching out for one another. The being of darkness could feel the void within being filled the moment they touched. Surprisingly, it did feel nice but sleepiness was setting in. A heavy feeling and need for rest._

 ** _"Until then, I need to sleep. I'll lend you my power... my successor. I'll give what direction I can..."_**

* * *

 **I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor any of the characters from the series. I do not own any of the song lyrics. Do not take material from this fanfic to use as your own, unless you have my permission.**


	2. Life as it Usually Goes

_6:00 a.m._

 _"Hey..."_

 _The sun was just barely peaking over the horizon. Many of the residents of Destiny Islands were still sleeping in their homes, save for a few early risers. At one of those homes, a boy was holding tight to a palm tree and reaching for the second-story window of the house._

 _A single bead of sweat rolled down his cheek as he reached back for the clear glass. It was only inches away, but his fingers could only manage grazing the smooth material._

 _"Hey. Hey, Kara," he whined in a whispering voice, flicking the window in hopes of catching the attention of the person on the other side. "It's Sora. You awake? Come on, we've gotta go before everyone else wakes up."_

 _No response._

 _Sora sighed and retracted his arm from the window to his friend's room. His bright blue eyes rolled and looked up at the dark sky above. Stars were still out, though they were slowly being hidden behind a layer of blue._

 _It was unusual for a teenager to be up at such an early hour, but he had a good excuse. School was out and summer break was here, so he was able to get up whenever he wanted to do whatever._

 _But, today, there was someone he needed to wake up first before he went along with his plans. They plotted the past few weeks about this, he recalled. He hoped she did not forget. Sora grunted and reached back for the window again to tap on it. Instead of giving up, he was going to try again and again until the other youth woke up._

 _"Kara!" Sora shouted in a whisper as to not wake up the rest of the households. "You promised to help me!"_

 _There was finally a sound coming from behind the curtains. Sora grinned and slid down the palm tree before he was seen. The light turned on and a shadow appeared on the purple curtains blocking his view._

 _Inside where he could not see, a sleepy teen with silver hair rubbed her eyes and stumbled along to where the calls came from._

 _"Mm..." she groaned softly, peeking one eye open. Her golden stare was blurry and still deprived of much needed rest. "Promise...?" The word barely made it out of her mouth as she looked on sleepily. But, then it hit her, and the teen sprung out of bed. "Oh!"_

 _Kara was wide awake now and rushed to get herself ready. First the shower and then a fresh set of clothes._

 _She tip-toed through the hall in spite of the household only consisting of herself and got started with the usual routine for getting ready._

 _Sora was rubbing his neck, wondering how long it was going to take for her to meet him outside, but he was happy to see the girl sliding out from behind the door a second later._

 _"It's about time," he teased her._

 _Rolling her eyes, Kara smirked and walked passed Sora._

 _"A girl needs to take her time," she said shortly. Both youths ran to the fence line and picked up two wood-carved swords that they frequently used for roughhousing, and then they made way for the beach. "When we get there, we need to start looking for stuff to build the raft, too."_

 _"Yeah, yeah," Sora rolled his eyes this time, and he pushed his small boat off into the water. Kara was following behind him and started rowing for another island that was not too far away from the mainlands._

 _With their boats side by side during the entire trip to the neighboring islands, the teens made their way to the wooden dock on the eastern side of the shore to tie down the small boats. Kara kept her sword at her side as she half-skipped down to the sandy shore._

 _"So, are you going to try and beat Riku today?" she asked the spiky-haired boy with a friendly smile. Although still tired, she was eager to know of her friend's plans for the day. The both of them trained long and hard in order to keep up with Riku._

 _Unfortunately for Sora, he was having trouble keeping up with Riku's quick attacks. It was something she often took notice of when she watched them spar. She wanted to help Sora in any possible way._

 _"Yeah," Sora nodded, following after her. He stopped partway and waited until she lengthened the gap in between them before raising his sword arm. "I've seen all of his tricks by now, but I still need your help. If we practice long enough, then I'll definitely be able to beat him!"_

 _Kara blinked and let out a long sigh. He never failed to break her spirit. "Sora," she called out to the boy. "If we practice long enough, then neither of us will be able to help the others with the raft."_

 _"Fine, then just a couple rounds." It was his turn to sigh now. They sparred as the sun continued to rise into the sky. For an hour, almost, the teens practiced their fighting moves and worked to improve their physical capabilities._

 _As tired as they were from getting up early in the morning, they continued on for rough an hour of nonstop training. There was nothing that could put an end to it, save for a sneaky swing of the arm that knocked Sora in the forehead._

 _The girl who cleverly maneuvered around him tried to catch him, but she was too late. He collapsed onto the sand with a knot in his head._

 _It was to her relief that he was doing fine, but he was likely going to wake up with a headache. Luckily, there was no need for her to rush him back to the doctor's office at the mainlands, but he probably could have used a bandage. Kara rested her wooden sword on her shoulder and stared down at Sora with her golden eyes._

 _"He's already sound asleep," she giggled, hearing the soft snores. "Maybe I'll take a nap, too, until the others get here."_

* * *

 _The closer you get to the light..._

My eyes were wide open as the sun's rays pelted the island with warmth. Looking around, I could see the palm trees' leaves swaying back and forth with the cool breeze running through.

The sun was high in the sky with small and white clouds drifting along. I could hear the ocean's waves splashing against the shore and against the high walls of the miniature island with the Paopu Fruit tree. I leaned back on the palm tree I was sitting under.

"What was that?" I mumbled to myself, looking out at the calm water. A voice. I was so sure that I heard someone's voice just now, but it did not sound like anyone I knew. It was definitely not Sora, nor was it Riku or Kairi.

 _Ugh, maybe I'm still dreaming_ , I sighed and slapped my hand against my forehead. It was pretty obvious now that the dream, or whatever it was, was over. All that I could really do was enjoy the day as it went on.

So, I chose to do so by stretching out my legs and rest on the warm sand. I sat there for another few minutes, until my body finally broke away from its sleepy state.

"Oh... another nap sounds really good right now."

But, it was already late in the morning, and I could see Kairi paddling in her boat nearby. Now I actually had to stay awake, or else Kairi would bust me for not doing any work on the raft we were supposed to be building. Was Sora awake?

I got up to my feet and gazed around the island. There he was, lying on his back by the water. It was just as I thought. Sora was sawing logs, but he did look comfortable laying down under the sun. Too bad for him, Kairi was already standing over him with a pout on her face.

"Maybe I should just let them be," I laughed to myself and shook my head. _Otherwise, it'll be my turn to get scolded_.

He woke up moments later and was startled by her, I saw. It was amusing to see them bickering, though it really was not anything serious. From what I could hear, Sora was giving her some excuse as to why he was asleep.

I did not catch all of it but something I heard was about some kind of dream he had- a big, black thing swallowing him up. It sounded lame and earned him a fist to the skull, but I was a little relieved to see him avoid the worst of Kairi's wrath.

A lazy bum was what she labeled him, but it went over his head apparently. He simply changed the subject to one that I've heard him and Kairi talk about multiple times over the past few months. It was amazing to me that I was able to keep on asking the same question myself, even when Kairi answered with the same words every time.

"Say, Kairi," Sora started, "what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up."

Exactly like that. I sat down on a barrel with my head in my hands, remembering how they went about this old conversation. Right on cue, Kairi left Sora with a much expected answer, "I've told you before, I don't remember."

"Nothing at all?" he asked her another question.

"Nothing," she told him.

"You ever want to go back?" Sora turned around to face her while still sitting in the sand.

It was something that I wondered about, too, and maybe she also did. I often wondered if she really did want to go out and find her old home... and leave us behind. Her silence after Sora's question left me curious.

"Well, I'm happy here," she finally spoke up. "But you know... I wouldn't mind going to see it. Just once, at least."

"I'd like to see it, too." Sora rested his elbow on his knee and looked up at the sky. "Along with any other worlds out there. I want to see 'em all!"

I sat down on a barrel partially buried in the sand and let out a sigh. They were not the only ones interested in visiting Kairi's hometown. Much of what Destiny Islands had to offer was so old. I saw just about every part of the world, and I could point out all of the major hot spots without even using my brain.

All two of them.

A change of scenery would be nice, I thought. None of the same old stuff anymore.

"So what're we waiting for?" Kairi turned around, asking Sora with a bright smile on her face. "Let's go!"

That was exactly what I was hoping to hear. The three of us were all on board with the same objective: leave the islands and go on a fun adventure to someplace new. I smiled to myself and thought about all of the things we could do out there. New sights and smells. Surely Kairi's hometown was a wonderful place.

However, just the three of us leaving to find her old home was not the plan. I glanced to the side and noticed a muscular teen walking towards Sora and Kairi. His silver hair brushed his shoulders as he made his way down the shore. How could I forget about him? It just would not be the same without that guy.

"Hey, aren't you guys forgetting about me?" he complained teasingly, tightening his hold on a log under his arm. He stopped walking and ran his fingers through his hair before tossing the log to Sora. "I guess I'm the only one working on the raft."

Riku, the designated leader of our little islander group, walked by Sora who was stuck under the weight of the log and set his sights on Kairi. He had one of those looks in his eyes. Their conversation about leaving the islands must have reached his ears, too. Maybe even everything before that topic came up.

"And you're just as lazy as he is!"

Kairi rubbed the back of her head shyly and giggled, "So you noticed. Well, then let's finish it together! I'll race you!"

Right when Riku sat down next to Sora, she demanded for a race.

The very idea did not sound the most fun at first, but they went through with a dash across the sand regardless of how tired they were. I sat back and watched Riku take the lead ahead of Sora and Kairi, who were not too far behind.

They laughed together and ran along to the other side of the shore, where we were supposed to be putting everything together. As soon as they were out of sight, I stood up again and walked down the shore to the shallow part of the sea.

The salty water touched the tips of my shoes as I stood there with my eyes focused on the cloudy horizon. This was life as it usually was- playing on the beach with friends and then going home to rest. Once the next day came, it was the same old routine.

I frowned at the thought of repeating each day. Instead of doing that, I wanted something new in my life. There had to be something more than just this simpleness. Well, we had plans to fix that problem. It just came down to building the raft and setting sail. Now that I thought about it... The others were probably waiting for me by now.

"Kara!"

My ears perked at the sound of Kairi's voice, and I turned around to see her and Sora walking back towards the cove. They were going the wrong way to find me. I guess I need to stop shirking and do my part, too, I smiled. Before they got too far, I hurried along to meet up with the two to get started.


	3. Building a Raft

In front of the door leading to the cove, I met with Sora and Kairi to talk about our plans for the day. It was still bright and early, so we intended on getting a lot done before having to go back to our separate homes.

There were still some things to gather before the raft could actually be built, but Riku already did his part and got most of the materials in question put together. And because he did, he went off on his own to go and relax somewhere while we continued to do our parts.

It probably would have been a great idea for me to have just done it when I was helping Sora earlier in the morning. I could have been done with it and relaxed for the rest of the day. The harsh truth of the matter was that I failed to do so and was too lazy.

Oh well.

"So, can you two gather the rest of the supplies?" Kairi asked us, clasping her hands together with a kindly smile. I smiled back but wondered why she even bothered asking. If it needed to be done, then I was on the job. How hard could it be to pick up a few supplies anyway?

"Of course!" I nodded.

"Great, thanks for your help, Kara!" She was grinning now, but her attention fell on Sora who was mostly in another zone. "Sora, are you even listening to me?"

"Huh?" Sora blinked his eyes a few times after Kairi snapped her fingers in his face. Clearly, he had dozed off to another land of imagination and excitement. "What was that again?"

Both of us girls sighed and shook our heads at him.

"Geez," I mumbled quietly. Maybe I hit him a too hard with the toy sword. It was probably enough to make him all scatterbrained. Well, no, that was highly unlikely. It was only wood, and wood hardly stood a chance against Sora's thick skull. My assumption was that he did not feel like bothering with collecting everything.

The rematch against Riku was still on his mind, I thought. I was not interested in doing the job by myself, though, so his match was going to have to wait.

"We can't build a raft without materials, you know."

"Right, so here's what we need," Kairi chimed in, and she handed a small paper to Sora. The neat scribbles on it made up the list of all the materials needed for the raft. By the looks of it, we were going to have an easy time getting done. There were fewer things than I thought- a couple of logs, rope, and a cloth. "Once you get everything, bring it all back here so we can get to work. No more slacking, okay?"

"O-Okay," Sora sheepishly laughed and wiped a bead of sweat off his brow.

We worked together to find everything, but I pinned the duty of carrying everything back on Sora. Well, maybe not everything. I had the rope on my shoulder and the cloth under my arm while Sora dragged the logs across the sand. Kairi was happy to see that we got everything needed and probably even happier to see that Sora was also doing his part.

All of it was taken through to the cove where tall palms sprouted everywhere. It was the place that we ultimately decided to work on the raft, mostly because the other kids who played on the islands did not go around there. Actually, if they caught on to what we were doing, then they would have wanted to go to other worlds, too. And that was what we wanted to avoid.

Riku eventually made his way back to us and brought some tools with him. He and Sora worked together with cutting the logs down to size, while I tied everything together with Kairi's help. It took us a couple of hours to finish, but the hard work paid off. And there was still plenty of daylight for us to hang around the island, so we did not have to go back home just yet.

I wanted to go around and play with the others before the time came to go back to the mainlands. With this big journey ahead of us, I just had to spend what time I had with my friends.

Down on the shore, I bumped into one of my friends, Wakka. He was carrying his ball around and enjoying the good weather. The smile on his face only grew when he saw me with my wooden sword.

"Hey, what's happening, girl?" he greeted me in his amusing accent. "You up for a round?"

"Sure, let's play," I smirked and rested the carved wood on my left shoulder.

Pretending to be infuriated by the way I referred to a sparring match, Wakka stamped his foot in the sand and spun his ball on the tip of his index finger.

"Play is for kids," he said. "This is serious!"

"Oh, alright then..." I hummed.

Our sparring match was a quick one, because I knew just how Wakka liked to fight. He threw his ball from a distance and tried to do a spinning sort of attack whenever I tried to get close. Coming up with a strategy was no problem, which involved me hitting his ball right back at him like it was a baseball. A couple of times was all it took to send him into a daze, allowing for me to knock him out with a few good swings.

"Ow... that really hurt," he whined, rubbing circles on the back of his head with the ball. He got better fast and brought up some casual talk before I went around to meet up with the others. The hot topic with him? Riku and his skills. "You know, Riku is pretty much good at everything. You're good, too. But, I doubt that you are a match."

Not really anyone had the skill to beat Riku in a one on one match. He and I have had our bouts, but Riku was the winner most of the time. We sparred against each other for years, reaching up to a hundred official matches. Today, he had two wins over me. Sora was also deemed inferior to Riku, having hardly any victories against him. Today was yet another day for a scheduled spar, but I chose to wait on that.

First, I was going to meet up with the other islander kids around the island and see what they were up to. I walked along to the dock, where Selphie was sitting. She was a nice girl, but Wakka often called her bossy. That was because, well, she liked to be in charge of him and Tidus.

"Ah, the breeze feels great," she said and stretched her arms. "Huh? Oh, Kara! What're you up to these days? I never see you anymore."

"Oh," I scrambled in my head for an excuse. The last time that we've really talked was when we were still in school. These past few weeks have been a little different, especially with the raft's construction. But, that was not something I could share with her. "I've actually been busy."

"Aw, Riku and Kairi have been pretty busy these days, too..." she sighed. "Hey. You should let me in on what you're planning! Even Sora's been up to something. Actually, never mind. I can find out all on my own."

"Er, i-it's not like we're doing anything major," I stuttered. It was a bad idea talking to her, I thought. "I'll catch you later!"

Before she could try to snoop anymore on what we were doing, I left for the tree house where Tidus was training. He was more on the clueless side when it came down to our plans, so I knew it would be okay talking to him.

"Hey, Kara, you feel up to a competition?" he greeted me while still swinging that staff of his around. Immediately, he was intent on sparring. "Sword fights beat crossing the ocean any day! 'Course, you guys will never be star fighters like me."

Maybe he knew more than we thought. Regardless, I changed the subject to the competition he had in mind.

"Let's have a duel," I challenged him. As expected, Tidus was taken by the idea of going a round on the beach. He stopped swinging his staff and accepted the challenge. Compared to Wakka, he was actually kind of tough. It took me some time, but I got the hang of his movements after only a short spar and won.

I was walking along the shoreline, through the shallow water, after spending a little time playing around. The sky was reaching a golden hue now with the sun on the verge of setting. It was almost time to call it a day, but I still had enough energy to run around a little more.

Sora and I already had our spar going, so I wanted to take on someone else. The only other person I had not yet fought today was Riku, who was sitting by himself on the Paopu Fruit tree. So, I went over to where he was and sat down on the same tree a few feet away from him.

We sat there in silence for a few moments, until I broke the silence.

"You know, I'm still determined to beat you," I said, glancing down at the wooden swords on the ground. His and mine were side by side on a small patch of grass. "I think it's about time we find out who the new champion will be."

Riku did not look at me, but I could tell that he was having similar thoughts. A smirk was present on his fair face and his gloved hand gave a squeeze to his knee.

"Alright, then how about a quick round?" he asked, turning his head to face me. "Even if you win, I'll still be the champ."

"We'll see about that," I smirked right back at him.

In the middle of the small island, we engaged in a duel to see who would come out as the winner for the day. He and Sora had already dueled, and Riku came out the winner again. So, I tried my best to avoid the same fate. We clashed and scraped each other with the splintering wooden swords. It was like he knew exactly how I fought, but I also had his style in my mind.

It got tougher the longer we fought. The fight dragged on, even when we fell into the water below. Still, no one came out the winner.

As we continued on, neither of us realized that Sora and Kairi were sitting back on the tree with their attention on us, until Kairi cleared her throat and spoke up.

"Are you two done yet?" she asked, causing for us to freeze in place. "It's getting late."

Riku and I were knee-deep in the water, panting and gasping for air.

"What?"

The wind felt chilly against my soaked body, so I got out of the water with Riku and rejoined the other two on the Paopu tree. After drying off, we hung out there for a little while until it would be time to go home.

"So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?" Sora slouched and bounced his feet against the side of the tree.

"Could be," Riku folded his arms as he leaned back. His aquamarine eyes were thoughtfully studying the calm waves reflecting the sun's golden light. "We'll never know by sticking around here."

"But how far is a raft going to take us?" I quietly asked him. Sailing across the sea was dangerous, so the grown ups said.

"Who knows?" he answered again, waving his hand lazily. "If we have to, we'll think of something else."

So I thought. He was determined to find a way out there, maybe even more than us. "So, suppose you get to another world," Kairi chimed in and giggled. "What would you do there?"

At last, there was a question that finally stumped our brave leader. He dropped his gaze to his feet and seemed to think it over for a moment.

"Well, I haven't really thought about it," he said, failing to come up with a good response. "It's just... I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds... Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

"I dunno," Sora shrugged his shoulders and swung a leg over the side to lie back.

"Exactly," Riku nodded, and he took a step closer to the edge. "That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi asked him in a hushed voice. I was sitting in the grass, watching them. He claimed that it was all thanks to her that this stuff was on his mind, because she had come from some unknown place somewhere out there. Well, it was not like I could deny it. He spoke the truth. None of us would be building the raft right now if Kairi had not shown up. So, she had my thanks, too, I supposed.

Now that it was getting darker, we finally decided to return back to the mainlands. Kairi was already going down the stairs while the rest of us were still walking across the bridge, Sora and Riku were walking ahead of me. I only stopped when Riku ran back to the small island to pluck something out of the tree. He jogged back with a yellow object in his hand.

"Sora," he called out to Sora and tossed it his way. "You wanted one, didn't you?"

"A paopu fruit..." the brown-haired boy mumbled, staring at it with a confused look on his face.

"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined," Riku spoke of the legend that went around the islands, and he patted Sora on the shoulder as he walked by. "They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what. C'mon, I know you want to try it."

He did not stick around to see the blush burning on Sora's face.

"What are you talking-" Sora stammered while Riku laughed it off and ran for his boat. I watched them running away, but stayed behind for a moment to pick up the small fruit Sora tossed to the side. It was ripe and ready to be eaten.

 _If two people share one, their destinies will be intertwined..._

It sounded too good to be true. Tossing the fruit back down into the sand below, I sprinted after the others and took my boat back home.

* * *

 _Drums and trumpets played their music throughout the castle as the Royal Magician marched down the hall's red carpet. The tip of his curly hat bounced along with each step. It was a pleasant day to be taking a stroll, but he was not simply walking around idly. It was yet another big day, and he had much business to take care of with the king of Disney Castle._

 _"Good morning," the feathered magician greeted the cleaning crew passing by. Yes, they too had their work to take care of._

 _Stopping at a massive door, the Royal Magician cleared his throat and tapped his knuckles against it to announce his presence. It was the entrance to the king's chamber, but he preferred keeping his ways professional even if that great ruler was his best friend. The skilled magic user entered the chamber through a small door that opened up to him._

 _It was a long walk to the throne, but he was still in a satisfied mood and went on with it. "Good morning, Your Majesty," he called out to the king as soon as he was halfway across the red carpet._

 _"It's nice to see you this morn- What?!"_

 _It was unusual, he thought._

 _The king never left his throne, unless it was to handle business with the queen. How strange and shocking it was to see the golden seat empty. As alarmed as he was, the Roal Magician kept his calm, until a lanky mutt poked his head out from behind the throne. He never really liked the dog, but that was something he kept to himself._

 _"A letter?" the magician tapped his feathery finger on his bill and snatched a green envelope from the dog's mouth. His eyes skimmed through the words on the single page, but it shocked him even more than the absence of the king._

 _A few blinks and a moment of silence later... the Royal Magician could no longer contain his anxiety. He clutched the paper in one hand and bolted out of the king's throne room to the garden. All the way, he shouted at the top of his lungs until he reached a slumbering figure lying in the flowers._

 _"Wake up, Goofy, wake up!" he yelled at the armored fellow. "This is serious!"_

 _Goofy, the captain of the Royal Knights, only snored louder and did not hear the calls of his friend. This only angered the Royal Magician, who pointed his finger to the sky._

 _"Thunder!" he shouted, casting a bolt of electricity on Goofy while he slept. It was a direct hit and aroused the shield hero from his sleep._

 _"Oh..." the knight groaned, rubbing his sleepy eyes. The rude awakening instantly went over his head when he saw his comrade standing by his side. "Hey there, Donald. G'morning."_

 _"We've got a problem, Goofy!" Donald quacked and stamped his feet. "Don't tell anyone..."_

 _"Queen Minnie?" Goofy blinked once, only for Donald to shake his head angrily._

 _"No!" he glared at Goofy. "Not even the queen."_

 _"Daisy?" Goofy blinked twice._

 _"No!" Donald was even louder in his denial, shaking his head again. "It's top secret!"_

 _But, it became apparent that Goofy was not necessarily talking to him. The knight leaned forward as Donald grumbled some words under his breath. Two women walked into the garden wearing fancy dresses. They were curious about the commotion and shouting going around the castle. That was when they noticed Donald and Goofy in the garden area. Something about top secret information made them all the more curious._

 _"Uh, g'morning, ladies," Goofy greeted the two, who were standing right behind Donald._

 _"What?!"_

 _They were not angry, but they would be if Donald did not share with them what he learned. "Care to explain?" Daisy cleared her throat. She was glaring at Donald with piercing eyes. The look in her eye was enough to send a shiver down his spine, so there was no choice. He had to show them the letter from the king._


	4. A Mysterious Note

I was sitting in my room later in the evening with a towel wrapped around my hair. The sea water was far too salty to leave on, so I showered thoroughly to get it all off. Then I had changed into a fresh set of clothes since my other outfit was soaked with salt water.

As I sat on the bed in my purple pajamas, I mused about the big day coming up. To and from the mainlands was as far as I went in my life. It was going to be different going out farther and on a homemade raft built by us.

What if we sailed right into a storm?

The raft was sturdy enough to handle the waves, I was sure. But, a severe thunderstorm was probably enough to break it apart. Then, there was the need for a food source. Tomorrow was the day we would pick up all of the provisions needed, but I had my worries.

Riku, before I got home, reassured me that everything would be okay with him being in charge. I feigned relief, but I was still a little concerned.

Well, I was going to have to bring along a fishing rod or two. The ocean had its fair share of raw meals, but seafood was easy to work with. Hopefully everything would work out just fine.

I sighed and laid back on the mattress.

"Are there really other worlds out there?" I pondered out loud, and my eyes locked onto the glowing dots in the night sky.

The very idea sounded just as unthinkable as the Paopu legend. If there really were other worlds, then how were we supposed to see them all. There were a lot of stars in space, so I was taught. What if the number of stars was the same as the number of worlds?

It would be a pain to try and explore each one, and I did not think that they were all connected by an ocean. Certainly, if there were other worlds, then we needed to come up with a different kind of method for travel.

A rocket?

That sounded reasonable. But, we were just kids. No adult would ever make a rocket and let us fly it around through space, if that was where the other worlds were. All of this thinking made my head hurt... I almost wished that Riku did not think of anything concerning leaving this world.

I shifted onto my side so that the window was to my back and focused on the dim nightlight plugged into the wall.

 _This world is just too small..._

The words bounced around in my head, and I agreed with them. There had to be something more than just these islands. I narrowed my eyes and moved the pillow under my head.

"Somehow, we need to get off this world and see what there really is," I said quietly to myself. "But, what can I do right now?"

It was already nighttime, so the others were bound to be asleep already. So, I was stuck in my room. Thinking. But, then I noticed something on the corner of the nightstand next to my bed. I was not sure how I missed it, but I sat up and picked it up into my fingers.

"A letter?" I mumbled under my breath, cocking my head to the side out of curiosity. "How did I miss this?"

The white paper inside the envelope was neatly folded. I pulled it out and switched the light on so that I could see. Unfolding the paper, I read all that there was on the front page.

 _Kara,_

 _It has been a long time since I last saw you. I hope that you are doing well._

 _It must be tough taking care of yourself all alone, but I know that you have your friends to count on._

 _There is something I need to tell you, but you might not understand right away._

 _Something has happened._

 _The world as you and I know it will soon meet its end at the hands of the darkness._

 _All of it is the doing of a great and mysterious power, surely._

 _I won't be able to help you, so please take these words of guidance._

 _Do not let the darkness scare you, even if it takes away all that you love._

 _Do not be afraid to go on this journey. You have the power to_

 _Perhaps it will lead you back to me in the future._

 _Sincerely..._

I was finished reading the last line but found that the signed name was partially erased. The only legible letter at the bottom of the letter to me was an 'a'. Could it have been from one of my parents? It sounded to me like someone who I must have known fairly well. But, where did it come from? There was no address, just my name.

"Something happened," I furrowed my brows together. It sounded serious and personal. "I don't know what this is all about, but... maybe I should keep an eye out for the others."

Slipping the letter into the drawer, I switched the light back off and slid under the warm blankets. It may have been something important, but none of it seemed really urgent. Heck, it may not have been a legit issue. Some person down the road may have been trying to pull a prank on me. Nonetheless, I shut my eyes and thought no more of it.

I needed to be ready for tomorrow.


	5. Preparing for Tomorrow

Yet another bright and early morning came upon Destiny Islands. I did not get up as early as I did yesterday, so I was feeling well rested this time around. Maybe Riku would be feeling up to another match today since we were interrupted the last time. It may have ended up as a draw, but I was sure I could pull off a win over him.

"Come on, Kara!" Sora called from the dock and waved me down as I paddled my boat. "We've got a lot to do today!"

I tied my boat down next to Riku's and followed Sora out to the cove.

When we got there, I could see the constructed raft sitting in a shallow pool of water, partially buried in the sand to keep it from going astray. It was in good condition and ready to be pushed out into the water. But, where were Riku and Kairi? Neither of them were over with the raft, nor were they over where Tidus and the others were. "Oh, there's Riku over there," Sora pointed at someone standing over by some of the shrubbery and in the shade.

Seeing that there was still no sign of Kairi and Riku was seemingly not doing anything right away, we went ahead and went over to where he was in the shade.

"Riku," I called out to him, snapping him out of his thoughts. "What are you doing over here?"

There was a certain light in his eyes that I noticed.

 _Competition_.

Yes, that had to be it, but I had a feeling that it had nothing to do with me. Rather, Riku's eyes were burning with a passion to compete against... our friend Sora. Of course, he gave me a glance for acknowledgement and a nod as to not exactly leave me out of anything. I got the idea. He was ready for the usual.

"Hey, Sora, the raft still needs a name," Riku started, turning fully towards the other boy. That was enough of a hint to get the gist of it. "Let's see... How about _Highwind_? What would you call it?"

"Me?" the equally spirited teen thought it over. "Well... hmm... _Excalibur_!"

A typical, Sora-esque name for the raft, I thought. Both made up names were interesting in their own right, but I was leaning more toward Highwind as the name myself. Picking one out was easy to do, too. Something like _Rosea_ would have been interesting. It was an interesting idea to me, at least.

Rather than interrupting the boys' moment, I veered off to the sidelines, when Kairi showed up. She noticed the air heating up, too, and stood next to me as Sora and Riku gave each other competitive glares.

We were the appointed judges of their latest crash course, which was to be a race around the cove from where we were now to the star-shaped tree on the other side. Both parties found it a fair idea for the one making it back first- the winner got the opportunity to name the raft. But, Sora took the opportunity to take it one step further.

"If I win, uh... I'm captain!" he said, gesturing to himself. "And if you win-"

"I get to share the paopu fruit with Kairi."

No one was expecting him to say that. Was it okay to claim to be bewildered? Maybe I could say that I was beyond shocked by his expected reward for winning. In a way, I was... sort of hoping to get the chance to have a special moment with Riku. As friends, we did nothing more than spar and swing our toy swords at each other around the islands. There had to be something more that he and I could do together than just that!

I quietly folded my arms across my chest and inwardly pouted. Something was burning in my chest... Was it jealousy? Toward Kairi?

Well, I did notice the glances he made at her every once in a while. Riku never looked at me that way- a confident smirk and a look of interest in his eyes. Kairi may not have noticed it, but I sure did.

 _We're just friends and their just friends_ , I reminded myself. _It's no big deal._

The boys went on with their race through the cove, taking their own routes. My eyes, although burning with a solid support for Sora to do his best, were locked onto Riku running across the old bridge over the water. He was swift and jumped effortlessly over the open gaps in the bridge. It looked so easy for him to keep up with Sora, who was already looking like he was losing some energy. In a matter of seconds, he was in the lead and slapping his hand against the star and making his way back to us.

"Go Riku! Go Sora!" Kairi was cheering beside me, raising her hands in the air and jumping high.

I had not the energy in me to share the enthusiasm, so I watched them running back. For the most part, they were neck at neck going down the same broken bridge, until Sora's yellow sneakers put weight on a loose square. "Wah!" was the last thing I heard, and his wide eyes were the last things I saw when he dropped down into the water. _There he goes..._

"Looks like I win," Riku proudly made his arrival back at the checkpoint, briefly throwing the soaked Sora a smug smirk. He strode over to me and Kairi, inconspicuously flexing his muscles as he walked by. It was the moment of truth, I thought. Riku and Kairi were going to share one of those "legendary" fruit that would bind their destinies. That was exactly what I thought, until Sora came up with a down expression. Riku was chuckling and shaking his head. "Man, lighten up. It's just a name, after all."

"All right, we're naming the raft Highwind."

All were agreed without too much complaint, and we went about our business with everything having to do with the raft. The four of us still had a little more to bring together before setting sail. Riku was the first to go out and do his part, leaving Sora and I to check in with Kairi by the raft. _Provisions for our trip? That sounds easy enough, I thought_. Food and water were a necessity if we planned on going out a long way.

Kairi gave me a list of food ideas to work with and an empty jug to fill with fresh water. The others had the same kind of list, of course, but we were supposed to gather supplies for ourselves. Seagull eggs, mushrooms, fish, and coconuts. I roamed around the entire island for some time in search of the things on the list. The hardest thing to get may have been the egg. Seagulls were a little aggressive, especially with their nests being full. I was lucky to get down from the tree without too many scratches.

"These look good," I said, picking up a group of growing mushrooms. They were a little on the small side, but the mushrooms that grew around the islands were all edible without any dangerous toxins.

My personal supply was nearly filled to the brim with mostly everything I needed. But, maybe I could throw in a few more things. A little more never did hurt anyone, as far as I knew. I already had plenty of wish, water, and coconuts to last. Maybe a few mushrooms would work, but I already got all of the available ones in the tiny jungle on the other side of the big tree taking up most of the space on the island.

Where else...?

 _There is only one other place on this island that grows the most perfect mushroom supply... the Secret Place._

That sounded about right, so I headed over that way before it got too dark.

I walked around a path winding around the massive tree, until I got to where the waterfall was. There, I saw a rustling in the bushes where the entrance to the Secret Place was. _An animal?_ I wondered, waiting for something to emerge. Sora popped out from behind the bushes and nearly bumped into me, but I moved out of the way in time.

"Oh, sorry about that, Kara," he sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head.

"It's no big deal," I shrugged my shoulders. "...What were you doing back there anyway?"

Sora glanced behind him at the settling leaves where he had just come from. It was no secret to the two of us, and Riku and Kairi, about what was back there. We had all gone through and explored every inch of that place. "I was picking up some mushrooms, and then I saw some weird guy. It was so bizarre!"

 _A weird guy?_

The grown ups were rarely visiting around these parts, except when they picked us up back when we were younger. One of them in the Secret Place sounded awfully suspicious, and there were no other boats at the dock. Bizarre was putting sugar to lighten that fact. "Is he still there?" I asked Sora, who looked into the hidden tunnel with me right next to him.

"No, he just vanished," he claimed, taking a step back. "Well, I'm heading back. I want to have a quick rematch against Riku before I give this stuff to Kairi!"

"Yeah?" I raised a brow, peeking at the extra bag on his other shoulder. All of that could not have been for just him. I assumed one of the supply bags to be for Kairi, _his biggest crush_.

Sora left as soon as he could to the cove, where Riku was likely waiting. I stayed behind and pushed the heavy vines and leaves out of my way to get into the tunnel. The far end, which was where I was going, had chalk drawings all over the stone walls. _It's been a while since I last came here._ Months or years, maybe. Nostalgia hit me when I saw one of my old scribbles.

My childhood drawing was of a castle of some sort with a sun, moon, and stars around it. Back then, one of the others were usually coming up with a dumb name to give it, yet they did not name their own. I never did come up with anything. Without a name, it became even more of a mysterious thing.

I stepped away from the drawing from long ago and moved toward a wooden door embedded in the stone at the back of the tunnel. Light shined down from the narrow opening above, illuminating the door. Now that I thought about mysteries, this was the biggest one. It had no knob, nor anything else that could be used to open it. It could not be pushed open, either. _What is the point of this being here?_

"Kara, you in here?"

Someone's voice was calling from outside. My ears perked and I stepped away from the strange door when the sound of Riku's voice reached my ears. He came around the corner the moment I turned around.

"Riku," I met his eyes with my amber orbs, and met him in the middle of the small cave. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Riku said, and he put his hands on his hips. "It's getting late. We've got a big day tomorrow, so we should be getting ready to go."

It was true. The amount of light coming in from outside decreased, making it a little harder to see around me. I was surprised that time flew by so fast.

"Right... I guess you're right," I nodded and followed him back through the tunnel.

Back outside the tunnel, I could see the sunset in the distance. Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka likely left for home. I saw Sora with Kairi at the dock, sitting side by side and looking into the golden sky. The two of them were quite the pair, so the two of us thought. It was amusing to me, but I noticed a weird look on Riku's face. I leaned forward and quietly examined his facial expression for a moment. He looked a little sad, which surprised me quite a bit.

I wanted to ask him about it, but it may not have been a good time.

"Hey..." my voice trailed off at the end.

"Do you think that we should bring those two along?" he cut in with a sudden question but did not turn away from Sora and Kairi at the dock.

Did he mean our friends? I was not expecting him to question going together with them. "They are our friends, I guess we should," I brushed a lock of hair behind my ear and briefly looked at them, too. "Why? Is something going on?"

"No... No, it's nothing," he excused himself. Riku walked on ahead to the beach, but I followed close behind him. "Hey, meet me back here later tonight when our parents are asleep, and don't mention it to Sora and Kairi just yet."

I said nothing and only blinked. It was brought up abruptly, so I had a hard time figuring out what he meant by meeting later tonight. But, if it was Riku, then it must have been something important. He probably wanted to talk about something, or whatever. I was feeling a little tired, though, so I planned to meet him back here after a short nap.


	6. A Dream

A fierce storm broke out over Destiny Islands, causing for the earth below to quiver and tremble. Rocking the trees and shrubbery back and forth was a mighty wind pouring in from the east. I was standing alone on the shore of the mainland's beach as the seawater continuously crashed against the sands and my feet.

None of it was alarming to me, for I knew I was safe from all dangers. It was surely a dream, yet it was one that felt too much like reality. Sora and the others would have been with me or close by, at least, but none of them were.

Sudden weakness in my legs caught me off guard, and I collapsed to the ground like a felled tree. I closed my eyes, expecting the grains of sands below to catch me. But, nothing happened. I was still falling and falling with nothing catching me. It was as though I was being dragged into the water by some unknown force.

There was only darkness below. But, when I adjusted myself and landed on some kind of ground, the darkness peeled away into light. The torn pieces of black pages became white doves rapidly flapping their wings in flight. A soft glow illuminated my face as I watched on in awe. It was an amazing thing to see- the birds in flight. But, as soon as they all disappeared, I realized that I was alone again.

 _ **"We have a lot to go over, but there is not enough time..."**_

I looked around in a daze as someone's voice spoke through the dark unknown. A smoky darkness was swirling around as I stood on the stained glass surface of a colorful platform.

Taking a peek down the side, I could see that it was a pillar of some sort, but it was rising from a dark abyss that my eyes could not see into. I took a step back from the edge of the pillar and glanced around in search of the mysterious speaker.

So far, it looked like it was only me there, yet someone was talking to me.

 _ **"Take a step forward... into the light."**_

The voice beckoned for me to step forward into the gentle ray of light shining down toward the center of the platform. It came from above, where a peculiar orb of light was shining. As simple as the call to walk was, I was a little hesitant. This place felt awfully familiar to me, though it was also incredibly beyond my knowledge.

I was probably more concerned about who this person was. It sounded like a man, muffled and distant.

Well, he may not have been plotting to hurt me or anything like that. There may not have been any harm in doing so, so I did what the voice told me to do. I took a few long strides until I was standing in the middle of the platform, the light was shining directly down onto me.

 ** _"There is a unique power that sleeps within you. If you give it form, it will give you great strength."_**

All of a sudden, three stone columns shot up from the glass floor. Their positions formed a triangle around me. I watched as the light above me faded and split into three, one over each column. I gasped in surprise when a sword, rod, and shield appeared within those individual lights. They looked polished and sharpened, like real weapons.

 _'What is this?!'_ I tried to question the unseen man, but my words failed to come out as actual speech. My hands flew to my throat in response to the oddity. Something had caused for my voice to fail me, but I eventually calmed down when it became apparent that there was nothing for me to do about it.

 _ **"Take your pick."**_

I was not really sure what to do, but the voice insisted that I make a choice. The rod turned out to be some sort of mystical tool, a power that seemed far from being realistic. That was the only one of the three that lacked any charm, I thought.

The sword was the first weapon that I approached. I hopped onto the column and stood under the light with my hands holding the lightweight tool close. _The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction._ The cool blade rested on my fingers, quietly calling for me by name.

I felt strength when I held onto it, but then my eyes caught sight of the other two options laid out before me. Releasing the sword, I let it float back to its original place and jumped down from the first column.

Next was the shield. _The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends in need. A shield to repel all._ I took it into my hands and thoughtfully examined it. There were times when I heard that a good defense made an exceptional offense. Whether that was true or not was often on my mind since I usually preferred a more aggressive approach.

And the rod. The power of the mystic. _Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin._ I doubted that magic actually existed. In fact, I was certain that it did not. It struck me as something that was ultimately useless, so I had no second thoughts after putting it back to its own place. What good would it do for me anyway?

Were either of them the power that I was seeking? That was what the disembodied voice wanted me to ponder over. I stepped back over to the middle of the platform and scanned my eyes all over each weapon. A power that needed to be given shape.

Out of the three that were presented to me, I chose to go with the sword. _Your path is set_. The words echoed in my head. It was enveloped in a radiant light and faded away, but I could still feel its presence in my heart. Once I made my decision, the rod and shield vanished into thin air, leaving me alone and standing back at center stage.

The three lights merged back into one, which was hovering right above my head. At the same time, the sword reappeared in my left hand.

 _ **"Now that you've gained the ability to fight, you can protect yourself from danger."**_

It sounded obvious to me as I glanced down at the sword in my hand. Fighting did not seem like a big deal since I often sparred with Riku and the others everyday. The very thought of fighting monsters like real heroes made me want to smirk proudly, but then several puddles of darkness flooded a portion of the platform.

Darkness oozed from the thin spaces between the colorful glass, which was enough for a lot of it to get out. Straining my eyes, I could see the empty gazes of several creatures with golden eyes.

 _ **"You might have to fight for yourself at times. But, with a strong heart, you can overcome anything. Not even the Shadows will be able to defeat you."**_

 _Shadows?_

The creatures rising from the ground all around me. Was that what they were called? There was a sword in my hand, so I supposed that it was time for me to put up a fight. Although, these black creatures were a little intimidating. Their movements were so sharp and clumsy.

I swung at the wildly, striking one or more at random. It was hard to land a solid hit at times when they sunk into the ground and crawled all over the place. These _Shadows_ were already a pain in my rear, but it did not take long to learn them.

Of course!

It took a little bit of patience and good timing. All I had to do was wait for them to resurface and then strike when they were least expecting it. With that strategy in mind, it was an easy win over the mysterious creatures called Shadows.

It did not take very long to dismiss the amber-eyed monsters. After defeating a few of them, the rest sunk back into the darkness and escaped. I won in the end, but I could have sworn that I got a few cuts on my arms and legs. Maybe the soreness was all apart of my imagination, because there were no signs of injury anywhere on my body. _Weird_.

 ** _"I want to know more about you..."_**

Straight out of a battle, and I was already taken into another direction.

 _'What?'_ I blinked.

The voice who had no body demanded to know more about me, but it did turn out that the questions were really nothing serious.

 _What was most important to me?_ That was the first question. There were many things I held close such as my friends and being able to stand up to challenges. I folded my arms thoughtfully and pondered over the question for a moment. Above everything else, I had to say that...

 _'My father.'_ He was away, and I had no idea when he would be back. But, regardless of that, he was the most important person to me. The most important thing to me in my life was the man who took care of me for most of my life. He was gone now, but I loved him dearly.

 _What do I want out of life?_ The second question followed immediately after the first. It was the same, though. I had a lot of things that I wanted out of life. Among those many things, I had to say that...

 _'I want to see the outside world and travel as far as possible.'_

 _What are you so afraid of?_ I was surprised by the straightforward question, but it did make me think.

 _'I'm afraid of losing my friends,'_ was all I could say.

 _ **"...I see..."**_

I gazed up at the light that pulled back away from me. It moved forward several feet down the platform, stopping short of the edge. An uneasy feeling bubbled in the pit of my stomach as I watched it. A low rumble beneath my feet made the sensation grow stronger. I felt sick, but I held back the queasiness until the rumbling settled down.

Flashes of light sparked within the swirling darkness. The rumbles grew louder and louder, just like what happened during a thunderstorm.

 _ **The time draws closer and closer. Very soon, the door will be opened, but you do not have to be afraid. My power is also sleeping within you. All you need to do is..."**_

The voice broke the silence once more, and the light shined even brighter over the stained glass. It was a little hard to hear over the sounds of thunder, but I was able to grasp most of what the voice was saying. That was until my body became heavy. My vision was blurring and everything became distorted. I fell back as the last words of the mysterious voice echoed in my ears.

 _ **"...tap into the darkness and lead me to him."**_


	7. The Great and Mysterious Door

_Disney Castle was not yet in a panic since the king disappeared. The queen and her fellow friends had left the garden area to the library in order to have a more quiet meeting about this letter Donald was keeping from her. They made sure to keep quiet and locked the doors to the library until further notice. This matter had to be figured out before some sort of chaos went on._

 _Queen Minnie relieved Donald of the letter and took it into her own hands. Her kindly gaze rummaged through the neatly written words on the paper and did not skip a single word._

 _Donald,_

 _Sorry to rush off without sayin' goodbye, but there's big trouble brewin'._

 _Not sure why, but the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one._

 _And that means disaster can't be far behind._

 _I hate to leave you all, but I've gotta go check into it._

 _There's someone with a "key"-_

 _the key to our survival._

 _So, I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him._

 _Got it?_

 _We need that key, or we're doomed!_

 _So, go to Traverse Town and find Leon._

 _He'll point you in the right direction._

 _P.S. Would ya apologize to Minnie for me?_

 _Thanks, pal._

 _"Oh dear!" Daisy gasped after Minnie finished reading the contents of the letter out loud for everyone to hear. All of them shared looks of concern at the news bore to them by the king. "What could this mean?"_

 _But, Minnie was not yet ready to fear for the worst. She knew very well, just as much as the others, that some terrible fate was looming over the worlds. Well, it meant the worst for the ones that were still in existence. Minnie preferred that none of them despaired over it. As the king had stated in his letter, there was someone with a certain "key"._

 _"It means that we'll just have to trust the king," she spoke up in a soft voice, slightly settling the nerves of her beloved companions._

 _Goofy tapped on his bottom lip and blinked a couple of times. "Gawrsh, I sure hope he's alright," he voiced his own concern for the well being of his king and friend._

 _"Your Highness," Donald cleared his throat and planted his feathered fist on his chest. "Don't worry. We'll find the king and this 'key'."_

 _"Thank you, both of you," the queen thanked the Royal Magician for his willingness to go out on this great mission._

 _"Daisy, can you take care of-"_

 _"Of course," Daisy Duck cut in before Donald could finish, already having a knowledge of what he was going to say. "You be careful, both of you."_

 _But how could the queen forget. It nearly slipped her mind._

 _"Oh, and to chronicle your travels, he will accompany you," Queen Minnie said. Her gaze met with a particular small fellow standing over by the books... on the table._

 _Donald did not see him immediately, but then a tiny cricket jumped up onto a few stacked books._

 _It was a neatly dressed cricket wearing a top hat and classy clothes._

 _"Over here!" he waved to Donald, assisting the duck in his search. "Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket, at your service."_

 _Impressed with the introduction, Minnie went on with her business. "We hope for your safe return," she said. "Please help the king."_

 _He was ready to take on the worst of it if it meant helping his friend. Donald held his left hand over his heart and prepared to depart. Pluto, the dog, rose from his bed and strutted over to the door to go along, too. But, no, something was missing. Someone else was supposed to be going along in search of the "key". His eyes scanned over Minnie and Daisy, and the finally landed on Goofy._

 _"You're coming, too!" Donald quacked, and he dragged Goofy out the door and back through to the mechanical room where their vessel was._

 _The two, along with Jiminy and Pluto, boarded their ship and launched into space. With the dangers threatening to take over the worlds on their minds, they made way for Traverse Town- the first stop in their great and wondrous journey._

* * *

 _Meet me back here later tonight... and don't mention it to Sora and Kairi just yet._

I was walking down the dock when the careful instructions given to me by Riku echoed in my head. Still, the meaning behind what he said remained a mystery to me. He was acting strange, so I wanted to know the meaning behind it. It might have been an off day, because those were nothing new to any of us.

Zipping up my jacket, I jumped down on the other side into the sand and made my way down the shore. Only the moonlight illuminated the island, so it was not too difficult to see my way around.

"I've been waiting for you," Riku called out to me. I raised my head and noticed a silhouette by the waterfall. No doubt, that was him leaning against one of the palm trees with one foot on the bark and arms folded across his chest. I could not tell because it was so dark, but I thought I saw a smile on his face. When I stepped up onto the wood ramp, he took a step out of the darkness so that I could clearly see him.

"You weren't followed, were you?"

 _What an odd question_ , I thought quietly and raised a curious brow.

Regardless of how strange it sounded coming from him, I nodded my head.

"So, why did you want me to come out here so late?" I asked him, cocking my head to the side.

Riku motioned for me to follow him, and I did. We walked down the path around the waterfall to where the vines and colorful leaves hung over the small tunnel entrance. A low howl flowed out from the Secret Place and gave me the chills. It sounded like there was some kind of beast in there, yet Riku led the way through there. Of course, I knew very well that there were no monsters or anything dangerous living around the islands.

At the end of the tunnel, where it became a small yet spacious cave, we stood in front of the mysterious door that no one could figure out. I was looking around thoughtfully at all of the drawings we ever did as kids; my eyes stopped on two in particular. Adorable and... No, adorable was really the only word to describe it. Did Riku see it? The drawing of Sora and Kairi, with the part that resembles Sora handing the drawing of Kairi a paopu fruit.

"Kara," Riku spoke up in a hushed tone, and he took a step closer to the door. I sat down on the big boulder off to the side and opened my ears to him. "I've been thinking a lot... on how we can get off this world."

"I noticed," I said plainly, resting my chin in my hands.

Riku's hand clenched around something at his side, and he turned his head toward me. "I have an idea," he stated, nodding his head to the door that we could not open before. Something about it changed right before my eyes. It caused for me to jump to my feet and take one step back. Riku noticed and relaxed his shoulders. "It's fine. That's how we're going to escape. If we can just find out where the key is, we can unlock it."

"Where did **_that_ **come from?!" I demanded to know.

A golden design appeared on the front of the door. It was the sort of design that was on pretty much all doors, except in a smaller size. It was a giant keyhole. Yet, Riku was unfazed by the discovery. Maybe it was no big deal to him, but I was a little concerned. It never showed up before, to my knowledge.

And a key? What kind of key was supposed to unlock that? It had to be supersized, I was sure.

"I saw it a long time ago," he said. "Someone told me that, if we open the door, than the way to the outside world will be open to us."

Suspicion never left my mind. It did not sit right with me inside, so I did not immediately fall for the idea. My face twisted into a look of concern as a strange sensation burned in my chest. I was not sure how to feel about this, something that Riku saw in my eyes.

"Are you sure that this'll be safe?" I was worrisome and hugged myself tightly.

Riku approached me and placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. To my pleasant surprise, he gave me that smile that I thought was exclusively for Kairi. It was sweet and calming; I could feel some of my worries going away. Maybe finding this key was not such a bad idea after all. He had his moments of being an intellectual. Those moments did usually turn out for the better, somehow. If anything went wrong, then we could put our heads together.

Yes, so opening this door should not be a problem.

"I know it sounds sketchy, but it's our chance to go and see what lies beyond this world," he said. Riku paused a moment and looked down at his other hand that was still at his side. He then raised it up for me to see. A yellow fruit, freshly picked from the curving tree on the smaller island across the bridge. _A paopu fruit?_ I blinked in surprise. "That old legend... I never did believe in it. When we reach the outside world, let's share it."

"R-Really?" I practically lost my voice and stuttered.

"Yeah, now let's open this door," Riku nodded his head, and turned away from me. "Who knows what we'll see. But, if it's you and me, we can keep the others out of trouble."

"Right," I said, holding my own hands together.


	8. The Storm

_"This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed. You have much to learn before you can know what lies beyond the door. One who knows nothing, can understand nothing."_

I nearly screamed when the earth under my feet shook violently. The quake rocked me back and forth, nearly throwing me to the ground if it was not for Riku. His strong arms wrapped around me tightly and kept me standing upright until things settled down.

"What was that?"

Riku let me go and ran outside. I ducked into the tunnel and tried to stay close to him, but he rushed off without me.

It was so dark outside. And the wind, it suddenly picked up the moment I stepped out into the open. I shielded my eyes from the debris caught up in the gusts of wind and walked out onto the shore. There, I really got to see how bad things suddenly became. Storm clouds had rolled through over the islands, sending bolts of lightning down around me. It was a miracle that I was not struck by a stray lightning bolt.

I cracked my eyes open and looked around at the chaos ensuing around me.

"Where did this storm come from?!" I gasped as small rocks and shrubs were pulled from the ground. Some of the trees nearby were ripped from their roots and fell to the ground while others were lifted into the sky. _What is that?_ A crimson and orange vortex in the sky stole my attention. The force coming from it was so powerful and was seemingly taking up pieces of the island. It was sucking up absolutely everything it could. Destiny Islands was being torn apart!

There was nowhere to run to, except for the Secret Place. But, I needed to find Riku and retrieve the others first. They needed to be safe, too.

 _"This world will soon be taken by the darkness..."_

As I dashed across the shore to the dock, a voice popped up in my head. It sounded like a hiss and echoed at the end. I stopped running and looked around the island to see where it was coming from. Maybe it was one of my friends trying to warn me, but... there was no one else there.

 _"If you fear the darkness, there is no hope in escaping it. The Shadows will stop at nothing to consume your heart."_

Darkness was all around me, shaping into monstrous forms everywhere. These black, yellow-eyed... things... were scattered across the island. They had sharp claws and appeared hungry for something.

There was nothing in my possession that could be used to protect myself from them, so I had no choice but to run away.

"Kara!"

Kairi hurried over to me and latched onto my arm. Her boat was not tied down, so the violent waves took it out to the dangerous sea along with mine and Riku's. Fear was colored on her face as she looked around to see the strange creatures. "What's going on?!" she wanted to know, but I had nothing to tell. This was just as maddening to me as it was to her. "This storm just showed up all of a sudden."

Someplace safe was where I needed to take her.

"Come on, we're going to the Secret Place!" I told her, pulling her through to the hidden path. The voice called those things Shadows. It was a name that rang a bell, so I referred to them as just that. Before they closed in on us, I sent Kairi inside and spoke out to her as she went on to the end. "Stay in there until I come back with the others, okay? It'll be safe in there!"

The Shadows were looking for me now, so I had to be fast in my search for our friends. But, when I moved away from the tunnel, a white light flashed before my eyes. It was blinding almost and caught me off guard. My vision adjusted, but I was not prepared to see a door materialize right then and there. "This door..." I breathed out. "It just came out of nowhere."

A glance back at the Shadows, and I could see that its light warded them off. _Whatever it is and wherever it came from, it's a big help. Now, I need to go and find Riku..._

I went as far as the cove to find him but luck was not on my side. That whole portion of the island was ripped up and replaced with a flood of water, which was also beginning to rise into the vortex. There was barely enough time to escape, but I was able to. I sprinted under the bridge, which was barely holding up, and ran into Sora by luck.

Sora was being chased by the Shadows, too, and they were more aggressively pursuing him than me.

"Sora!" I called out to him, waving my arms over my head.

He saw me and ran my way. "Kara!" he called back with relief showing on his face. We ran away together and closed the door to the shack on the monsters chasing us. It was probably not going to hold them off for very long, but it bought us time to regain our energy from all the running. "Hey... Where did this storm come from? Is the raft okay? And what were those monsters?! They just started attacking me when I got here."

I sighed and rubbed my head.

"It beats me," I said. "We need to find Riku first."

"I saw him running across the bridge," Sora explained to me, pointing at the door at the top of the stairs.

The shack was about to be sucked up, too, so we hurried along to the other side of the bridge through that door and approached a lone figure standing in the middle of the island.

Amazingly, the paopu tree was standing strong despite the storm raging on. I was relieved to see Riku just up ahead, but it was dangerous for him to be right under that vortex. Sora ran ahead of me and stopped at the base of the ramp. "Where's Kairi?! I thought she was with you!" he questioned Riku. It dawned on me that I did not tell him yet, but we were going to go back to the Secret Place together, anyway. So, I had no need at the moment.

Riku's gloved hand clenched into fists. "The door has opened..." he said in a low voice, confusing Sora and baffling me. That door from the Secret Place was still on his mind, even in these conditions. "The door has opened, Sora!"

His greenish eyes opened and glared at our unknowing friend. Only briefly did he glance at me, though his eyes had softened upon landing on me.

Riku also softened his tone, sounding a little less angry.

"Now we can go to the outside world," he stated, and he turned fully to face us.

"What are you talking about?!" Sora swiped his hand out to the side. "We've gotta go find Kairi and get out of here!"

"Kairi's coming with us!" Riku shouted back, coldly cutting Sora off. He looked up at the vortex in the sky, as did we. The clouds were swirling around it in a steady current. "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back. But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us!"

"I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

We were taken back by his dark words, yet he still held out his hands for us to take. The darkness that he claimed to not be afraid of seeped out from the ground under his feet and winded around his legs. It was threatening to take him away from us. As the vines of darkness extended up to his waist and arms, Sora and I attempted to get him out of it. There was no telling what it would do to him if we let it take him.

I took a few steps forward and reached out for Riku's hand with mine, but the same darkness took hold of my feet. Sora was caught up in it, too, right behind me. _Sora!_ I looked back at his struggle to get free. Riku. He was only a couple feet away from my position. I turned my head back around as the darkness wrapped around my body.

"Come with me, Kara," he said, reaching his hand out a little further. But, the darkness was pulling me away from him. My eyes were blinded, and I could not see him anymore. Our fingertips touched but that was it. That was the last thing I felt before everything turned pitch black.

If it were not for a mysterious light, the darkness probably would have taken me away as well. It banished the darkness swallowing me up, and I was dropped back into the sand.

Groaning, I got up to my knees and shook away the dizziness in my head.

"Kara," Sora knelt down beside me, but something in his hand knocked me in the back of the head. I winced and rubbed at the knot. "Oops... S-Sorry about that!"

I glared at him softly and stood up. To my surprise, he was practically glowing. Particles of light that were as small as the sand grains surrounded the both of us. It was not just Sora.

And, the thing in his hands looked a little strange, but it strangely eased my mind. It looked like a giant key, but it may have been a sword of some kind. The blade was silver and had a golden guard. "What is that thing?" I asked him, but he only shrugged his shoulders. So, neither of us knew what to call it. The weapon was just some over-sized key that was being wielded by my friend.

"What are you holding?" Sora asked me, but I cocked my head to the side in confusion.

What was I holding? Last I checked, there was nothing in my-

No, there was something in my left hand. It was weighted, but I had not noticed it there. Maybe that was because my fingers were so numb from holding it as tightly as possible. _This is... also a giant key,_ I thought, examining the weapon in my hand. Compared to Sora's, its design was more complex and monotone. The tip of it had a blue, eye-looking orb in the middle and the teeth were cog-shaped. My fingers trailed down the blade, grazing the binding chains around it. Down where the hilt was, I found another orb that looked like an eye. Overall, it had a short reach and looked like a reliable tool, unlike that wooden sword I always used.

This sword, or whatever it was, was kind of cool.

"I-I don't know, but it looks like we have company," I pointed at the Shadows running up to us from the other side of the bridge.

Putting aside our wonders, we stuck by each other and fought back against the monsters. They jumped at us and tried to claw at us. A couple of times, we got scratched on the arms, but no serious damage was done. Sora and I teamed up and sprinted towards the strange door that showed up in front of the Secret Place. It was the safest place we could think of going to since the rest of the island was being torn apart by the storm.

Shadows still chased us, but they were unable to bypass the door once it closed.

At the end of the tunnel, I slowed down to a stop while Sora moved on ahead. _That was a close one,_ I thought and glanced over my shoulder. They had almost caught up to us, but we got away in time. Riku... I wished that he had gone with us, but the darkness took him away.

I dropped my gaze to my feet and recomposed myself. He had to be out there somewhere. Giving in to despair was not an option, so I had to go out there and look for him... if only I could get to the outside world.

"Kairi!" I looked up, hearing Sora's voice bounce against the walls.

Peeking over his shoulder from where I stood, I noticed Kairi standing in front of the door that now lacked the keyhole. She looked pale and weak. I assumed it to be from running away from the monsters outside, but something else seemed to be off...

"Sora..." she spoke his name in a weak voice.

I watched as she reached out to him in an attempt to hold onto his hand, but then the door swung wide open. Darkness was spewing out from the door, sending Kairi flying into Sora's arms. But, she went right through him, and me. We tried to catch her, but she vanished through the tunnel. There was nothing for us to hold onto.

Sora was sent flying right into me, and I was knocked off my feet and blown right out of the Secret Place with only my friend to hold onto.


	9. Struggle Against the Darkness

I groaned and got up to my feet. The landing was a little rough, and I hit my head on a piece of wood sticking out from the sand, but I was alright.

The gusts of wind were still running amok, but I only felt winds equivalent to a strong breeze. It blew my hair from side to side, but I felt no calm just yet. Not when I was standing on only a portion of the island that was broken off from the rest. I found no way off it, only the way to a giant monster towering above us. It looked menacing with the glow of the giant vortex above shining down on us.

It had wild vines of hair, yellow eyes, and a hole in its chest that looked like a heart.

"T-That's the monster from my dream," Sora blurted.

 _...This huge black THING swallowed me up! I couldn't breath, I couldn't..._

His words from the other day replayed in my head. So, that was the thing he was talking about back then. It made sense now. That thing was going to try, and we were on its list of prey to eat.

In my left hand, that strange sword appeared again. Sora's also flashed into his hands. "I guess we have to fight it," I gulped but got into my fighting position.

The two of us fought as hard as we could against the giant monster, taking on different approaches to beating it.

Sora targeted the hands when they were low enough. His best opportunity came when the monster Shadow slammed its claws into the ground, which caused for more tiny Shadows to come up. He also took care of them when he could, reducing the number of problems we had down to one.

I climbed up that same arm and targeted the head. It looked like the most vulnerable place to me, so I swung my weapon at it and did what damage I could.

After we beat it up to the best of our ability, the giant monster stopped attacking. It froze in place as the storm-tossed island rose closer to the vortex. I stumbled on its shoulder and fell to the ground when it stood up.

"Ugh!" I grunted. My body hit the ground hard, but I was still conscious.

Sora was over by a boat protruding from the sand was. He was trying his hardest to hang on to one of the broken boards, but his fingers were bound to loosen. I was crawling over to him, but a hand plucked me off the ground. It was the monster we had just beaten, but it was still up for a fight.

I struggled against its grip, but it was much too strong for me to break free from.

 _This isn't good,_ I realized as I rose into the sky with the monster still holding onto me.

There was nothing Sora could do for me, nor was there anything I could do. I was helplessly being dragged into the vortex, into the great unknown. Sora was screaming my name, I was sure, but his voice was muffled by the raging winds. I was too occupied with the sinister force pulling me in to bother crying out for my friends.

And then, as the darkness smothered me... I blacked out.

* * *

 _Streetlights lined up along the street, lighting up the eternal night. Donald and Goofy entered the town through a large gate, marking their arrival at Traverse Town. They were in new attire, for the security of the world order was a priority. Both fancied the brand new look. Even Pluto had on a new collar, but there was no need for anything else._

 _Goofy looked around with interest at all the sights to see, but he was falling behind Donald's faster pace. Something more interesting than the numerous shops and other buildings caught his attention._

 _He looked up at the night sky to see all of the stars, for something prompted him to focus his gaze on one of those countless stars._

 _Was it a voice?_

 _The knight in disguise had not a clue, but he knew very well that something serious was going on._

 _He noticed the star's peculiar twinkling, and he called out to Donald to look at it, too. "Look, a star's goin' out!" he announced._

 _The star flashed brightly once and was gone in the next instant. Yet another one had gone out since their departure, signaling to them that the destruction their king warned them of was nearing._

 _"Come on," Donald urged Goofy onward. "We have to hurry!"_

 _As far as they knew, Traverse Town was still a safe place. They walked all over town in search of Leon and the "key", but they found neither one. It took them hours to go around the whole of the First District, but the group of outsiders ended up back in the middle of the district._

 _"Where's that key..." Donald grumbled to himself, folding his arms._

 _Goofy was still lax about it and ignored the complaints from his friend. "Hey, ya know, maybe we ought to go find Leon," he suggested. "The king did say that he'd point us in the right direction."_

 _At the top of the steps, the group got a little... divided in direction. Pluto was sniffing the ground, for a peculiar scent lured his skilled nose. Donald was going in the opposite direction, away from the alley that Pluto was heading over to. Goofy stopped and shifted his focus from Pluto to Donald._

 _"Uh, Donald. Ya know, I betcha that..."_

 _"Aw, what do you know, you big palooka?" Donald waved his hand at Goofy and continued on the other way. He was too irritated to bother with his companion to concern himself with the "misguided" direction of the dog._

 _Goofy scratched his head and thought about it for a moment._

 _"Hm... What do I know?" he asked no one in particular. "Come on, Pluto!"_

 _The sniffing animal did not immediately heed to the call. Rather, he continued to scout the alley, until finding a collapsed boy slumped against a grouping of crates. His arms were covered in scratches and bruises, but he was still breathing. Pluto licked the boy's face to wake him up, but he stirred in his apparent sleep. Not wanting him to fall back asleep, Pluto pounced and forcibly woke him up._

 _"Wah!" the boy yelped, and jumped to his feet. "I'm not dreaming!"_

 _He groaned and looked around the dark alley. It did not look like home to him, which was a major concern to the boy._

 _"Where am I? Oh, boy... I'd better find the others."_


	10. A Place Called Traverse Town

It was nighttime when I woke up. A headache was pounding in the side of my head, making me grimace as I leaned back against the brick wall behind me. I was still able to stand up on my own, though it took me a little while to steady myself. The pain was inconvenient, but I knew that it would not last long. Besides that, there were other matters that remained more concerning to me than some bump on the head.

I was no longer on the islands. Destiny Islands was long gone and out of sight as far as I knew. This place was much different compared to the town in the mainlands. It was more... industrial.

At every street corner, I saw a shop or hotel open for business. It was so strange but incredible.

"I can't believe it," I murmured and walked down the street. There was something new on each side. I could not help but try to see them all. "I actually made it to another world."

For sure, it was unfamiliar territory. I was unaccompanied and wandering everywhere, and my friends were missing. My father, when he wrote me letters back home, warned me about going through an unfamiliar place. Anyone who had the smarts could take advantage of me, he said. No matter who it was I talked to, I had to be careful.

I continued to walk on and turned a corner when I saw a sign that said _First District_. It was a calm walk through the town and relaxing, but then I bumped into a couple of people.

A small person was knocked onto his behind, and I stumbled back because of the impact.

"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry!" I apologized profusely and helped the stranger up to his... feet?

It was not my place to judge, but he had odd looking feet. They were webbed, like a duck's feet. And this hand that I was holding, it was covered in feathers. I took a few steps back and furrowed my brows at the sight of him. He was no ordinary person, that was for sure.

Duck face.

Duck tail, and no pants.

Webbed feet.

A blue shirt and hat.

Yup, this was definitely no human. An animal, perhaps. The person standing next to the strange individual was just as odd. He wore the full set of clothes, but this one looked more like a dog walking on two legs. He just looked a little goofier than the other and not so mean.

"Out of the way!" the shorter of the two yelled at me and raised a fist in the air.

He shoved passed me and walked on the way that I had just come from. _So rude_ , I thought. The other guy and his lanky dog followed, but he was kind enough to send me an apology as he walked away. I just stood there with attention undivided from those weird fellows. "What was that just now?" I wondered out loud. Never before had I been in such a situation. It came out of nowhere and just... amazed me. But, I did not want to run into that duck again. He was so mean.

I shook my head and walked on to the First District.

The place was not too busy. There was a small number of people roaming around and chatting with each other. Some were kids playing around- kids much younger than me. None of them looked remotely similar to any of my friends. No one resembled that trio of friends so interested in my business with Riku, Sora, and Kairi. And no one looked like those three who I was physically separated from. It was unlikely that they ended up in the same place as me. Hopefully they were doing okay.

Putting my thoughts aside, I looked down into the breaking crowds of people from the top of a stone staircase. I could see them all clearly from up there. Older women, young men, and little children. There was even a Moogle in the crowd. I could recall one of those pesky sellers working at one of the stores back home. Interestingly, there was one here, too.

I saw no one familiar to my eyes, save for the Moogle.

It was going to be a long day, but maybe it was going to look up for me shortly. In the corner of my eye, I noticed yellow sneakers across the way.

I looked and saw someone in shorts standing by the doors to one of the shops. A boy with spiky hair and a look of wonder on his face. That boy who was one year younger than me was Sora, undoubtedly.

My face lit up upon seeing him in the same town as me, and I ran before he walked away.

"Sora!" I called out to him, and he turned around in time to see me heading over to him.

"Kara!" he grinned happily, and his face lit up even more than before. "I was hoping that I'd run into you. Where's Riku and Kairi?"

Unfortunately, neither of them were found by me. They were still missing, and I had already searched through most of the First District. I shook my head and let Sora know of the bad news, but he understood. There was a low chance, anyway, he told me. I was glad he did not lose hope, though. We could still find the others elsewhere.

From that point on, however, Sora and I were sticking together. Even though we could not find out where our friends ended up, we still wanted to explore this new world.

It turned out that this world was where people from all over went to when they lost their homes. We were not the only outsiders, it seemed, but I could not ask about where anyone else came from or what happened. It was an understandably sensitive topic to bring up. However, that confirmed that there really were other worlds out there, and potentially a lot of them.

Looking around the streets got a little boring after a while, so we decided to check out one of the shops nearby. The Accessory Shop, or so it was called. It looked like an interesting place to check out. It was possible that someone in there had ideas about what might have happened to our friends.

I walked inside the shop with Sora close behind me. The air was cold thanks to the fireplace being without a flame.

A tall man with a toothpick in his mouth hummed a catchy tune as he wiped down his counter, but he turned to us when he heard the door close.

"Hey there, how can I..." he began, but his sentence cut at the end the moment his eyes saw the two of us standing on the other side of the store. "Oh, it's just a couple of kids."

I pouted and shook my head. Being called a kid was practically an insult. I was well into my teen years, so that almost made me an adult.

"We aren't kids," I told him. Well, it was not right getting angry about it, either, so I relaxed my shoulders and stepped up to his counter. "I'm Kara."

"Yeah!" Sora supported me. "And the name's Sora."

Our straightforward confrontation caught the man off guard. He waved his hands defensively and sighed. "Okay, okay, simmer down," he said. The older man put his hands on his hips and muttered something under his breath, and then he glanced down at Sora. "So, why the long face, Sora? You two lost or somethin'?"

"No!" Sora shook his head, but caught himself a moment later. "Well, maybe. Where are we?"

A lot of explaining went on, and the old man told us a little bit about the town. The purpose behind Traverse Town was a little more interesting than I thought. It was certainly another world and nothing connected to our island. Cid, the clerk of the shop, let us know just that. But, he was not rude about it, so we had no reason to be upset with his bluntness.

I turned to Sora and shrugged my shoulders, "I guess we should start looking for Riku and Kairi again."

"Yeah, you're right," he nodded.

Cid ran his fingers through his blonde hair and gave us both a kind smirk. "Well, good luck with whatever it is you're doing," he said. "If you ever run into trouble, you kiddos come to me. I'll look out for you.

"Right, we sure will!"

With that, Sora and I hurried out the door to check out the other parts of town that we had not yet seen. The other districts seemed like a good place to start, namely the Second District.


	11. A Man Named Leon

Initially, the Second District was clear of any people. It also had shops and the homes of residents lined up- clothing, hand bags, and footwear. There were all kinds of shops in the district, but I could see that they were all currently closed to the public.

"Weird, there's no one here," Sora said, walking up to the stone railing. He gazed down at the empty park area below but saw nothing of interest.

I sighed and folded my arms out of disappointment.

All of the residents were either in their homes or the First District, but that was just what I was assuming. Maybe they wanted to live privately. It was hard to say since we only just got to this world.

I walked along with Sora for a little while longer but stopped when I saw a sign for a hotel across the way. We had been walking and running around for a long time now, and I hardly rested since that incident. "Hey, Sora, what do you say we check out that building over there?" I pitched the idea to Sora.

He followed my point with his eyes and considered it.

"But, we haven't found Riku or Kairi yet," he said, scratching the back of his head. "They might still be out there, you know."

"Well, sure, but how are we supposed to keep up with them if we don't have the strength," I rolled my eyes. Pointing back at the doors to the hotel, I encouraged him to further consider taking some time to rest. "Besides, it's dark out. We should look for them when the sun comes up."

Sora still had some protest left in him, but he gave in in the end. The hotel was still open, too, so we were on our way to check for available rooms. That was when a man came running by. It looked like he was in a hurry to get somewhere, but then I noticed his hand gripping his chest. He was stumbling along with sweat pouring from his forehead.

The man tried to turn the corner but a heavy stone caught his foot, and he fell to the ground in a heap.

I took a step forward, wanting to see if he was okay. However, seeing the look of fear on his face told me that he was not alright. Something happened down the street, and he was left in pain.

"Hey, that guy needs help!" Sora shouted out and was about to run over to the fallen man, but I stopped him.

"No, wait," I said, holding Sora by the arm.

Just then, a spark of light flashed in the center of the man's chest. It pulsed for a moment until a heart came flying out from his fatigued body. The heart floated along into a mass of darkness that opened up. We were shocked to see that darkness transform into a monster with red claws and a silver helmet.

The monster had yellow, beady eyes, just like the ones that took away our home. It was saddening to us that we could not help him, but his body faded away moments later. That strange monster disappeared afterward and fled to some other part of the town.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." I said in a quiet voice.

However, before we could go on to a safe place, shadows rising from the ground cut us off from the hotel and the way back to the other district. They had us surrounded in an instant, but our still mysterious weapons flashed into our hands.

It was a fight they wanted, so it was a fight that we were going to give.

Sora and I breezed through the Shadows and fled from the area. Those creatures that were the very same as the ones that attacked islands were swarming the Second District. The First District, which was thriving with life before, became a very dark place.

Mere hours had passed and the district was being overrun with monsters. People scattered and fled to shelter when swarms of Shadows flooded the place, leaving only the two of us to face them.

As dangerous as it was, we were as ready as we could possibly be. I split up from Sora to tackle the group of monsters close by, and I took them all out with my weapon as he handled the others. There were probably hundreds of them, but we quickly finished them off together and cleared out the First District.

I leaned against the wall as soon as I thought it was clear and rested. Not only was I tired but Sora, too. He plopped down on one of the stair steps and took in deep breaths.

 _"They'll come at you from out of nowhere, as long as you brats continue to wield the Keyblades."_

Out of the blue, a man appeared a few yards away from where we were. He was tall and had a scar running diagonally across the bridge of his nose. Under his foot was one of the Shadows, but it was quickly done away with when he stabbed his large sword into it. That man was frighteningly accurate with it.

I held my key-sword-thing close as the man took another couple of steps towards us.

"Who are you?" I demanded his name.

"Why are there two?" he ignored my question. His head shook, and he pinched the bridge of his nose as if mulling over whatever details there were in his head. "I don't know why a couple of kids like you would have Keyblades, but that doesn't matter. Now, let me see those Keyblades."

Keyblade...?

The man must have meant the giant swords shaped like keys. So, that was what this thing was called. I examined the chained blade again as the word bounced in my head.

"There's no way we're letting you have these," Sora spat back.

"All right, then have it your way," the man shrugged his broad shoulders, and rested his sword on his right shoulder.

I wanted to avoid fighting him in the middle of the town, mainly because he looked really strong. But, then Sora rushed off ahead and started his clash against the scar man. That meant that I had to fight, too. We worked together and fought like we did against each other. As well as our apparent enemy did against our combined effort, he was backed into a corner.

The battle in the First District went on, until I struck the swordsman in the side of the leg with my _Keyblade_.

We were all panting and gasping for air, but the swordsman was the only one who dropped to one knee. He was the loser of this match.

I huffed and dropped the end of the Keyblade to the ground. The muscles in my arms were burning intensely and were numbed by the exertion of my power, It was worth it in the end, but I was ready to collapse.

As for Sora, he was stumbling back and leaned against the light pole. "Now... you're... gonna... you're gonna..." he slurred. Sora was unable to finish his sentence when he fell on his back in the patch of grass around the pole. He was out cold from all the fighting.

I gritted my teeth when the swordsman got back to his feet.

Was he still up for a fight?!

 _"Aw, you're slipping, Leon."_

A black-haired girl suddenly appeared by the Accessory Shop. She wore a yellow scarf and an outfit that made her look like a ninja. "I went easy on them," the man named Leon told her. The duo approached us, but I got in front of Sora to protect him while he was down. Even if there were two of them, I still had enough fight in me to hopefully prevent them from taking Sora. Leon and the girl halted for a moment, then looked to one another. "It looks like things are worse than we thought."

"Yup," she nodded. "So, what are we going to do about these kids?"

"Let's take them to the hotel," he spoke up after a few minutes of glaring at me. "It's not safe out here."

I narrowed my eyes and gripped the Keyblade's hilt tightly. "What do you plan on doing to us?" I asked.

"You can relax," Leon said, walking passed me to Sora. He picked the silver and gold Keyblade out from his hand, and held it away from my friend. With his other arm, Leon lifted Sora over his shoulder and turned back to me with a hint of a smirk. "The hotel is the safest place right now. Come with us, and we'll talk more."


	12. The Heartless Have Come

_Cool air blew against the skin of his face and arms, stirring the teen boy from his sleep. His eyes slowly opened, and his fingers twitched to life as the breeze settled down._

 _Water._

 _His tired eyes saw water, falling all around him. No, that was not right. He blinked once, then twice, and got a better look at the lengthy waterfall that went all the way through the canyon he was in. That water was not falling. Rather, it was rising to the sky, opposite of what waterfalls did._

 _Riku groaned and pushed himself off the freezing ground. Much of his strength was sapped, but he thought that might happen. He caught himself before he could fall back to the stone foundation._

 _"Where... am I?" he breathed out. Riku's gaze shot around wildly as he remembered the events taking place back home on Destiny Islands. That was right, he thought. He made a great escape from that world, and the darkness took him away to the outside world. However, he detected that something was amiss. In the vast canyon, he was all alone. "Sora! Kairi!"_

 _Those two were nowhere to be seen. All he could see was a bunch of floating rocks moving up to the far end of the canyon._

 _If the darkness took them like it did him, then they must have ended up on some other world. Riku gritted his teeth and thought back to the person who he thought he would have escaped with. Their hands touched, he recalled, but only their fingertips._

 _"Kara," Riku spoke her name in a soft tone. Seeing that none of his friends ended up there with him, he dropped his gaze to his feet and sobbed without tears._

 _There was no one to help him explore this new world, or so he thought._

 _Watchful eyes observed from a distance, somewhere above Riku's point. A woman with sharp talons for nails that were painted red. She grinned at the sight of the youth, for he seemed like the perfect specimen for her grand agenda. His calls were heard by only her ears, though he may not have known it._

 _That boy needed someone, she thought._

 _Someone like her._

* * *

Leon and Yuffie. Those were the names of the surprisingly kind people who took me and Sora to the hotel for safety. The swordsman guy was a lot nicer than I thought, but he seemed really scary the first time I met him. Well, that was because of the fact that we fought against each other. I was just glad Sora and I got out of that mess without anymore problems.

While staying with them in the hotel room, I learned a little more about Traverse Town. The morning sun that I was hoping would come was not going to because the night never ended. Although, the hour did change to fit the normal time of day.

Much of the townspeople, including these two, came from other worlds taken by the darkness. It was a world for refuge, until everything returned to normal.

But, there was no telling how much longer this place was going to stay safe. Those monsters roaming around town were growing in number, Leon told me, and that meant that this world was in danger of being destroyed. The same kind of destruction that took place at home. It crushed me inside thinking about it, but I acknowledged that that was the truth.

It turned out that a lot of the other worlds apart from this one were in danger of being destroyed.

I looked to the black and white Keyblade sitting on the table next to me. My fingers pushed the bottom end a few inches over as I glared at it.

That thing appeared in my hands the moment I was in danger, but it was apparently responsible for the Shadows chasing after me. Was it a tracking device, or something? Either way, I was able to wield it with fluidity, and it helped me bypass those creatures that were attacking.

"You fight pretty well for a kid," Leon broke the silence and leaned against the door frame. He was out patrolling the area but called it quits after a couple hours. And, the first thing he called me when he got back was... _a kid_. Even when I went through the trouble of telling him my name, he stilled referred to me as that. I supposed that there was no helping it. "Who taught you how to fight like that?"

He was talking about our fight in the First District, I assumed.

I could tell him a long story about my life on the islands, but there was probably not enough time to do that. The short story was what he was going to have to accept.

"Back home, I always sparred with my friends," I explained. "We just had wooden swords there, but we made it work."

"Right," Leon nodded slowly and glanced at Sora, who was still sleeping on the bed. "You and Sora, and those other two friends of yours. Which one of you was the best?"

Only three of us actually did the work behind sparring- Sora, Riku, and I. Kairi preferred watching us, so she was not exactly a fighter. "Riku, and then me," I said, watching Sora sleep. "Sora's pretty strong, too."

"That explains a lot," he said, shaking his head with a soft chuckle.

"Yuffie, wake him up so we can get started"

She poked Sora in the arm and shook him slightly to try and stir him awake, but he was too tired to respond. We watched as Yuffie gently slapped his cheek, which was amusing to see. "Come on, lazy bum," Yuffie sighed. "Wake up."

The way she said it made me freeze in place. It sounded exactly like something that Kairi would say to Sora. Actually, I was sure that, at some point, Kairi did say those exact words to Sora the day before our home was destroyed. The two did look alike, sort of. And they sounded similar, too. It was just as amazing that he woke up in the blink of an eye when Yuffie mimicked Kairi's ways, albeit unintentionally.

"You okay?" she asked him, having noticed that he still looked a little dazed.

"I... I guess I am..." Sora nodded his head, and he sat up to stretch his arms.

Yuffie nodded and moved to the side. "Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade," she told him. But, I had a feeling that nothing was really registering in his head. "But it's your heart that they really want,because you wield the Keyblade."

Sora tilted his head back and smiled awkwardly at Yuffie.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Kairi," he said and attempted to hug her.

Yuffie's shoulders twitched and she jumped back to avoid the hug. "Kairi?" she scoffed. "I'm the great ninja, Yuffie!"

"I think you might've overdone it, Squall."

I was stifling a giggle as Yuffie examined the bump on Sora's head. Leon, or Squall, sighed and revealed himself to Sora. He folded his arms and glared at the two of them. "The name is Leon," he corrected her.

Sora's gaze was then fixated on his Keyblade leaning against the wall next to Leon.

"The Keyblade..." he mumbled.

"Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures," Yuffie explained, sitting next to Sora. "It turns out that's how they were tracking you."

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," Leon nodded. "But it won't work for long. Still, it's hard for me to believe that you of all people are one of the chosen ones."

When Leon took the Keyblade into his hands and held it back from Sora, it vanished and appeared in Sora's hand. He gasped, and so did I. "I suppose beggars can't be choosers," he went on to say.

"This doesn't make any sense," Sora remarked, and he glared at Leon. "What's going on here?"

"Then listen up," Leon shot back a glare and took a seat at the table with me. "You listen, too, Kara."

Leon and Yuffie explained as much as they could about what was happening around us, starting from the beginning.

They told us about the other worlds apart from Traverse Town and Destiny Islands. This was apparently supposed to be a secret, but some kind of disturbance changed that. Something caused for the worlds to be connected.

The Heartless, those creatures that were attacking us all the time, were seemingly the cause. It was pretty obvious to me, but they were denizens of darkness that lacked hearts of their own. As explained by Yuffie, it was the darkness in people's hearts that attracted them. I found it haunting that there was darkness in my heart. How much was in there? I had to wonder. It did not feel like there was darkness inside me, but there had to have been if the Heartless were coming after me, too.

"Hey, have either of you heard of someone named Ansem?" Yuffie asked, but we shook our heads.

The name was not familiar to me or Sora, so they talked about him to clear out the confusion.

This Ansem guy was some scientist studying the Heartless and made some reports about his research. However, those reports were missing in other worlds, so we could not read through them. But if we happened to run into any, Leon welcomed the idea of seeing what they were all about. And, Ansem disappeared along with their world. No one knew where he was, if he was still alive and not one of the Heartless.

"With the key, we should be able to return the worlds to their original state," Leon pointed out, gesturing to our Keyblades.

I took mine into my hands and studied it from top to bottom. The strikingly blue eyes on it were mesmerizing, and a little creepy. But, as intimidating as it looked on the outside, I recognized the flow of power in it. It resonated with my own strength. _This thing chose me_ , I fully realized. They called me and Sora the chosen ones because we wielded Keyblades. I was not entirely sure what made someone a chosen one, but Leon did mention something about the strength of one's heart. Maybe our hearts were so strong that the Keyblades sought us out.

Riku was pretty strong, too. It made me wonder if he could also wield one, but I was not going to know until we found him.

"So... this is the key?" Sora thoughtfully examined his own weapon.

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade," Leon continued. "That's why they'll keep coming after you, no matter what."

"Well, we didn't ask for this," Sora stood up and shook his head.

I sighed and pulled the Keyblade closer to me. "I don't think that's how it works, Sora," I told him. It was painfully obvious after their explanation of the Keyblade. "Whether we like it or not, we were chosen."

"How did this happen?" he plopped back down onto the bed, and looked at his feet. "We were home on the island. I remember being in my room... Wait a minute! What happened to our home?! The island! Riku... Kairi..."

"You know what? I really don't know," Leon leaned back against the closed door, and he looked the other way.

Our meeting came to an end, but there were still some questions I had for Leon. He knew a lot about what was going on.

For now, though, we rested a little more and did some planning for what to do next. According to Leon, it was only a matter of time before the Heartless found where we were hiding out at.

I was looking out the window while the others did their own thing. It was dark out in the alley, but I could still see the Shadows searching the back street. "Hey," Yuffie skipped over to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "You know, I've heard that the Keyblade can open all sorts of locks. You ought to give it a try sometime... Maybe to find some treasure. Right?"

"Treasure?" I blinked. "Is there really treasure around here?"

"I sure hope so!" she blurted. "One time, I found a whole bunch of munny in the street. I won't share any of it, of course, so you'll have to look around yourself."

A whole bunch of munny. Treasure. It sounded too good to be true, but she sounded pretty confident about the possibility. Now that I thought about it, my pockets were feeling a little light. What munny I had on me was from picking up what I found after defeating some of the Shadows. Did they hold onto munny, too?

It may have been my imagination, but I could have sworn that I saw a Heartless picking up munny.

For a little while longer, Sora and I sat around with Yuffie and Leon. We ate and had plenty of water to regain our strength. I was happy to get some sleep after that ordeal, but it was almost time to figure out the next course of action. During the time, I figured out how to work with the Keyblade by myself- summoning it and concealing it through the use of my own will. That way, I did not have to walk around everywhere and carry it on my person.

Sora and I approached Leon, letting him know that we were just about ready to go out and restart our search for our friends, but he was not quite interested in letting us go just yet.

"Sooner or later, the Heartless will find you," he said. "You'd better prepare yourselves."

"Prepare ourselves?" I looked to Sora, and he looked to me.

"To fight for your lives," Leon straightened up and looked at us both with serious eyes. "I hope that the two of you are ready for the worst."

It was tough to say since we were only beginners in saving the world from the Heartless, but that did not mean that we were not ready.

Nodding, I smirked and pounded my fist against Sora's. "We're ready!" I said.

Leon had a small smirk on his face. He looked pleased seeing the spirit burning in our eyes.

"Yuffie, let's go join Aerith," he said, turning to the ninja girl. "She should be there by now with the other visitors."

Everything was going just fine, until Yuffie discovered a puddle of darkness slipping in from under the door. It stopped in the middle of the room, and a monster with red claws emerged from the darkness. It looked like the one that we saw back in the Second District, when all of those Shadows began to attack the town. This time, I noticed the red and black emblem on its chest. That indicated to us that this monster was a Heartless.

Leon urged Yuffie to flee and find the other young woman while he dealt with the stray Heartless.

"Sora, Kara, let's get going!" he ordered us to follow him, and the skilled swordsman sent the Heartless flying out the window.

We gave each other a nod before jumping off the balcony and into the alley. But, before going after them, I thought I heard someone groaning in the other hotel room. It may have just been my head playing tricks on me, so I went ahead and followed the guys without bothering with it.

Outside, we found ourselves in the midst of a Heartless ambush. There were Shadows and several Heartless with the emblems on their chests.

We took out the ones closest to us and regrouped a few minutes later. Leon kicked one of the monsters away, then turned to us.

"Don't bother with the small fry," he told us. "Search the town and find the leader!"

"Let's go, Sora!" I pulled my friend along in hopes of finding this Heartless ringleader. Just as Leon said, it must have been somewhere in this town and controlling the actions of the other Heartless.

We still had to fight our way through the districts as we hunted down the boss. But, whenever we had to take a little bit of time to rest, we returned to the First District where the others were. They did a lot to secure the area, so it was free of any Heartless. We also met Aerith, who was a kind woman that gave us some items to help with our fight.

 _We've already gone all over the Second District, so that means the Heartless leader is somewhere else_ , I thought to myself.

Where was it?

I sighed and sat down on a bench. There were really only corners to look in, unless...

"Hey, Yuffie, where do these doors lead?" I walked up to the ninja girl, who was standing in front of a pair of tall doors.

"This way goes to the Third District," she told me. "That place is probably swarming with Heartless. I'm not sure how safe it is over there."

"I see..."

I folded my arms and thought about it for a moment. That was the only place I never checked out much during my time in Traverse Town. Surely there was something going on over there, but I could not go through these doors. It was locked from the other side. I was going to have to go around the other way.

There was a chance that the Heartless leader was hiding in that district. I had to look into it!


	13. A Peace to Restore

I ran through the Second District and evaded the frequent Heartless ambushes, Sora was close behind me. But, when we got to the Third District, it was strangely quiet. Not a single Heartless showed up to our surprise. Well, that did not mean that there was absolutely nothing to discover.

We ran down the stairs and hurried through the district to find out if there really was anything lurking around these parts.

That was when we heard an explosion from the rooftops of a couple buildings behind us.

Following the explosion, there were people screaming at the top of their lungs. I stopped in my tracks and turned around to see what the matter was. Two people were flying through the sky with their rear ends on fire, and they were falling down to our level.

"Wah, look out!" I yelped and ran to the side to avoid the impact, but Sora was too slow in getting away.

The flying strangers crashed into him, and they all fell into a heap on the ground with stars circling their heads. Although the three of them were moaning and groaning, I could see that they were okay. _That was a close one_. I let out a held in breath and sighed. At first, I thought we were under attack by the Heartless, but it looked like it was just those two guys from... Wait a minute. They looked awfully familiar.

A duck and a dog who walked and talked like regular people. These two were the same guys I met when I was walking around town.

"Oww..." the duck rubbed his head.

"Oh..." the other shook the stars away. "Gawrsh, look at that."

"It's the key!"

The two strangers sat up on Sora's back and stared intensely at his Keyblade. My brows knitted together, and my eyes narrowed into a cold glare. These people had some interest in my friend's Keyblade, just like the Heartless did. Although, neither of them looked remotely like Heartless. Regardless of that, what did they want with the Keyblade?

All of a sudden, the ground began to shake. I was knocked off balance and nearly fell, but a helpful hand from the dog guy kept me on my feet.

Stone pillars shot up from several different points around us, where the exits were. They were tall and impossible to climb up. Is this a trap? At the tops of the pillars, Heartless appeared through portals of darkness. It was just as I thought. An ambush. But, they did not look clever enough to pull off something so strategic.

"Get ready for a fight, you guys."

Sora and I had our Keyblades out while the other guys had a staff and shield.

The Heartless wasted no time in trying to overpower us with relentless attacks, but we were easily able to turn the tables in our favor despite being outnumbered.

The coast was clear as soon as the last of the ambushing Heartless was gone, until we heard a metal sound crash into the ground behind us. There was a loud bang, and the ground shook from the impact. "Is that a Heartless?" Sora's mouth gaped open as the large, armored monster rose up. It had the emblem, so it was a Heartless of some kind. This one was much larger than the others and us put together. This had to be the Heartless boss.

Each of us went about our own ways of beating the giant Heartless. Those two who crashed into Sora worked on taking out the arms and legs, while Sora and I attacked the main body. The disconnected limbs flew out in an onslaught, forcing us back every once in a while. It took some time, but we managed to get rid of the Heartless's limbs and isolate its main body. We struck it several times, but it was determined to fight on.

I pierced through the Heartless with my Keyblade and cut through to the other side; thus, the final blow was landed.

The Heartless released a crystalline object into the sky, and its body faded away as the heart-shaped crystal disappeared. We only suffered minor injuries, but that was a tough battle. With its defeat, things around Traverse Town were bound to settle down for some time.

"Boy, you two are really good," the guy who had dog-like features chuckled and walked over to me and Sora with the duck fellow. "Looks like we found the key, just like the king told us to!"

Both apologized for the sudden run-in, but they refused to leave us alone. The two strangers followed us through the Third District, until we finally stopped to question them about why they were following us.

I had an idea about why they were considering their reaction when seeing the Keyblade, but I had to hear it for myself.

"So, you were looking for me- er... us?" Sora asked them, and they nodded.

By now, the stone pillars that were blocking the exits crumbled to the earth, restoring access to the other districts.

Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith arrived to investigate the scene. They had been standing there long enough to hear most of our conversation.

"They, too, have been seeking the true wielder of the Keyblade," he said, and Yuffie nodded in agreement. But, why were they seeking the Keyblade wielder? Or, I supposed I should say Keyblade wielders.

"Hey, why don't you come with us?" the talking dog suggested. His big black nose jiggled as he spoke to us, making him look funny. "We can go to other worlds together on our vessel."

They proposed the idea, but it sounded almost too good to be true. I looked to Sora and he looked to me. "We might be able to find Riku and Kairi if we go with them," was what we were thinking. But, I thought back to the last good idea that came up for going to other worlds. Was that vessel just another door to supposedly great opportunities? Or, were these strangers going to trick us into doing something terrible?

The duck quacked and puffed his chest out.

"Of course you can!" he claimed, immediately bringing hope to Sora's face.

I for one was not too convinced about it. Heck, not even they looked too sure about it, especially when they muttered some words to each other for only one another to hear.

"Sora, Kara, go with them," Leon stepped forward and encouraged us to go on this _vessel_. "Especially if you two want to find your friends."

"Yeah, I guess we could..." Sora dropped his head.

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand?" the duck tapped his webbed feet on the ground. As he spoke, he made a variety of faces that were pretty funny. "No frowning. No sad face. Okay?"

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us," the other chimed in, sporting the goofiest of faces.

"This boat runs on happy faces!"

Happy?

It was not absurd, but I was less than interested in stretching my face out. Besides that, I was already wearing my typical smile. It was small, but my lips were curving upward at the ends. My face was as happy as it could possibly get, so the had to accept it. Right...

The moment of truth lied with Sora, who took his time in revealing his pearly white teeth. No one said a thing when we saw his attempted happy face, but then we all broke out into a fit of laughter. "That's one funny face!" Those were the exact words we all thought.

Sora turned his head to me, and I gave him a nod of approval.

"Okay, why not?" he looked back to the others. "We'll go with you guys."

"Donald Duck."

"Name's Goofy."

"I'm Sora."

"Kara..."

"All for one, one for all," Goofy recited as we placed our hands on top of each other's.

 _All for one, and one for all..._ I felt my face soften, and my smile grew as I bonded with these new friends of ours. At first, I disliked them for that rough first meeting in town. It was not a real meeting, but I still did not enjoy it. But now it was great getting to know them and getting to fight alongside them. I just hoped that they were really going to help us find Riku and Kairi. If not, then that new bond... It would be for nothing.

* * *

 _Four heroes joining together to overpower a destructive Heartless. They were joyful over their victory and celebrated with one another. The scene did not sit well in the eyes of multiple figures gazing into the transparent image on the round table. It made some of them sick just seeing them make friends with each other._

 _Their focus, however, was on the boy and girl who successfully led the fight against the Guard Armor. With their Keyblades in hand, it was clearly a fight they had no problem winning. It was miraculous that they grew so fast into these powerful weapons. But, still, some of these onlookers were enraged by the remarkable display of prowess._

 _"Those little squirts took down that Heartless!" a flame-headed man with razor sharp teeth growled. "Who'd have thought it possible? 'Cause I sure didn't."_

 _A slim man with a golden staff silently scoffed. "Such is the power of the Keyblade," he stated. "Their strengths are certainly not their own."_

 _"Why don't we turn them into Heartless?" a plump woman asked, and she burst into laughter at the thought of seeing the youths ensnared by the powers of darkness. "That'll settle things quick enough."_

 _A fancily dressed man entered the circle and glared at the heroic teens. But, his gaze was removed from them and recognized the other two involved with the defeat of the Heartless sent to Traverse Town._

 _"The brats' friends are the king's lackeys," he groaned. "Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them."_

 _"You're no prize yourself!" bumping into the man with a hook for a hand was a peculiar creature. Male, of course, but certainly not human. He was a jolly one, in a dark sense._

 _"Shut up!"_

 _The bickering was a headache for the woman in charge of the meeting. Of course the discussion was welcome, but it became meaningless when no one could reach an agreement. "That is enough," the woman sitting in a golden seat sighed. She was displeased with their behavior and moved in to dismiss the childishness. The horned woman stepped down with her staff in one hand, and she glared at her cohorts._

 _"The Keyblade has chosen, not one, but two masters," the witch announced. "The boy and the girl... Will it be they who conquer the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow them whole? Either way, they should be quite useful... I certainly have my eyes on one."_


	14. Down the Rabbit Hole

"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don't know how far the Heartless have spread."

"Check out the shops, too, when you come back to visit! They've got some pretty neat stuff."

I was standing in front of the world gates with Sora and the others. Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie met us there with a basket of all sorts of goods and tons of advice for our incoming adventure. "Here, this is from all of us," Aerith smiled sweetly and handed me the basket. It was filled with a pouch of munny and plenty of potions for whenever we got hurt. "Use these as you see fit. Oh, and... this is from Leon."

The older woman slipped a glass container into the basket, which was an expensive looking elixir for dire situations.

They wished us luck in our journey to find our friends and the king of some world far away. Not only that, but we were inspired to watch out for one another. This was the start of a grand adventure together as friends. The main goal may have been to search for Riku and Kairi, for Sora and I, but we were also being dragged into the mission of saving the worlds from darkness. It sounded a little dangerous for a couple of teenagers, but it was what it was.

"The gummi ship is outside that gate," Donald pointed to the exit.

"The what?" Sora asked.

I cocked my head to the side in confusion.

"I think I've heard of those in my dad's letters, but... what exactly is a gummi ship?" I added.

"That's our ship," Donald said, putting his hands on his hips.

Goofy jumped up and clicked his heels excitedly, saying, "Wait 'til you see it!"

However, his excitement was busted when Donald pushed him aside. "Hold on a second," the duck stopped the cheerful moment. "If you two want to be useful, then you're going to need to learn a few things."

"A few things more than swinging the Keyblade?" I raised a brow and waved my arm around as if I was using my Keyblade.

Of course that was what Donald was getting at. He went on to explain to the two of us what he had in mind, and it took me by surprise. First, Donald displayed his own use of a power I thought to be nonexistent.

Magic.

Donald shot out a fireball into the brick wall so that no one got caught up in the flames, which was the spell he was intent on teaching us. It was scary trying to get the flames to ignite in our hands, but we learned that it was not a self-harming technique. At least, that was what Donald claimed. I was sure that what I saw in the Third District was a backfired spell, but who was I to judge?

I was just glad that I attained the power of fire. Now, we were able to use magic, too.

Since we still had some time on our hands, Goofy taught us a little bit about evasion maneuvers that were sure to help us in the heat of battle. Both were gifts from our new friends, and we were thankful for their kindness in teaching us. These new abilities were sure to make the challenges ahead a lot easier.

"All right, I think that's it," Sora yawned and stretched his arms behind his head. "Let's get going!"

"Not 'til we're ready!" Donald quacked angrily, pointing at the extra munny.

It was meaningless bickering, but I let it go with the boys. I simply stood off to the side and waited for them to finish up so that we could go. While I was standing there, I felt a light weight on my right shoulder. I looked down and saw a fancy looking cricket standing on me. _Has he been with us this whole time?_ I wondered quietly.

"Well, lass, I see big adventures coming your way," he said, adjusting his ascot. "Looks like it'll be up to me to keep track of it all in my journal. If there's anything you want to know more about, just let me know!"

"O-Oh, thank you," I smiled sheepishly.

As soon as everyone had their fill of preparation, we headed out the gates to get to the gummi ship. It was roomy inside, and Goofy gave us a tour in the ship so that we felt comfortable. We joined up in the cockpit and got seated for liftoff, but they gave Sora and I a little tutorial on the controls. In my mind, I hoped that Donald would let us pilot the gummi ship someday. Maybe not now, because we were still inexperienced. But, it would be amazing to fly it around space.

Occasionally popping up on a monitor were a couple of chipmunks named Chip and Dale. They were skilled with what they did, which was managing business with the gummi ship so that we all knew what was going on.

It was going to be a pleasant journey, or so I thought. The route we took to get to the next world was littered with enemy ships that tried ramming into us. Thanks to the pilot, Donald, we were able to blast through them without too much trouble and soon arrived at our destination.

The colorful world came into view after a short trip through space, which Chip called the _ocean of stars_.

"Hey, is that the world we're going to?" Sora unbuckled his safety belt and looked over the pilot's seat to see the great view. "What is that?"

"The map says it's Wonderland," Goofy scratched his head, reading off of a small sized paper that was apparently a map of the area.

Donald used his magic to send us down to Wonderland and secure the gummi ship in a safe place. I had to point out to him that there were some inaccuracies, because we were falling into a deep pit after disembarking. To our surprise, an invisible force prevented us from falling uncontrollably and we floated down the massive hole. Before reaching the bottom, a few of us thought it was a good idea to do a few flips and tricks. Poor Goofy was unaware that we were already at the end and landed on his back as soon as the floating stopped.

I landed on my feet and looked around the area. Everything was so... unusual. The pictures were crooked and lacked fine taste. What furniture there was blended into the wallpaper and ground. Just what kind of a world was Wonderland, anyway?

"Wha?!" I yelped and nearly fell to the ground when a white rabbit shoved through my legs to hurry on ahead.

The rabbit was dressed in a tuxedo and had a large watch in his hands as he scurried along.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers!" the rabbit huffed. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

He was in such a hurry and did not seem to mind us as we watched him go around a corner. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" he continued to worry. "I'm here, I should be there. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

"Okay," I folded my arms across my chest and looked on with a confused expression. "That was a little weird."

"Come on, let's follow him!" Sora ran after the rabbit, followed by Donald and Goofy. I pursed my lips but sprinted after them reluctantly. As uninterested as I was about the rabbit, it might have been worth looking into. I was a little more concerned with this _queen_. Why would she want to punish someone for just being late?


	15. Alice's Trial

We chased after the white rabbit through a series of doors, until we reached a peculiar room. It was like a kitchen- a bizarre kitchen. There was a brick stove and fireplace on one side, and a comfy looking chair in the corner. I took a step forward but stopped when I saw the round table sunk into the floor. Raising a brow, I scoffed quietly and shook my head.

"This world is getting stranger and stranger by the minute," I said in a low voice.

"Hey, look over there!" Goofy jumped and pointed his finger at something small scurrying across the floor. It had white fur and big ears; I thought it was a tiny mouse.

If it were not for the fancy clothes the _mouse_ wore, then we would have overlooked it. But, that was the rabbit we were trying to follow from earlier, just a lot smaller than before. I tilted my head to the side as the rabbit continued on through a tiny door. "That's a little unusual," I mumbled, but no one seemed to hear me.

Sora scratched the back of his head, confused by the spectacle, and the others looked around the bizarre room for nothing in particular. They fiddled around with the brick oven and stove, and the messy stack of books in the corner. Goofy went to sit on the bed that was clearly out of place, but Donald kicked it out from under him. The bed slid into the wall, becoming yet another simple piece of intangible art.

"What's up with this place?" Sora asked me, but I only shrugged. It was totally beyond me, and I thought of myself as a pretty smart cookie. "Actually... How did that rabbit get so small. Must be convenient..."

"No, boy, it is simply because _**you**_ are too big." We gasped and fell back on our backsides, and the other two were just as shocked. The tiny door that was about the size of my palm had spoken- the golden door knob and lock formed the face.

Donald quacked, "It talks!"

"What... nonsense. Must you be so loud?" he, the talking doorknob, grumbled to himself. "You woke me from my nap."

"Good mornin'," Goofy greeted the doorknob, only to have his kindness shut down.

"Good night!" he grumbled some more, wiggling his nose. It was the knob, but it also served as his schnoz. "I need just a bit more sleep..."

But, we couldn't just let him go back to sleep yet. It was he who was awake, or barely awake, when the rabbit went through. We needed him to let us through so that we could catch up to that little critter. I got onto my knees and jabbed at the doorknob's nose with my index finger.

"Hold on, don't go to sleep just yet!" I pleaded for him to stay awake for just a little while longer.

"What do we have to do to grow small?!" Sora chimed in, hoping to find answers. "You know, like that rabbit that passed by here."

"Ugh..." he moaned and groaned. "Why not try the bottle...? Over there... on the table."

Right on cue, the table that we thought was a mere decoration for the uniquely tiled flooring rose from the ground and became a life-size table set. On top of it were two bottles, one with a blue label and one with an orange label. _Drink me_ , they both said. It was one or the other, so we went with the one pointing out an object turning into a smaller version of itself.

Sora went first, and then me, Donald, and Goofy. Nothing happened immediately, but then I noticed a strange sensation in my toes. It tingled for a moment, and then something miraculous happened. I shrunk! The weird bottle did the trick and made me about the size of the shrunken rabbit. Even the others got smaller, too.

"Gwarsh, everything looks so big!" Goofy looked up and around at everything surrounding us. "Hey, those guys are as small as us, too!"

"What do you mean by that?" Donald folded his arms.

A moment later when we were in the company of numerous Heartless, we found out just what Goofy meant by what he said. Shadows and Soldiers and Red Nocturnes that shot fire magic at us. It was a frenzy of Heartless, but we managed just fine against them. Thank goodness they were all relatively weak.

Clearing them out let us move on to follow the rabbit. If only the doorknob would let us pass through to the other side, but he only responded with snores. What a time to be fast asleep, especially when a bunch of Heartless were running around all over the place. Seriously, he was lucky that we were there to keep him safe.

It was fast work clearing out the Heartless, but the next issue was finding another way to get to that rabbit. A hole in the wall that was not too far away from where the doorknob was turned out to be our best bet, so we took the opportunity. The path was long and dark, with no signs of light anywhere, until after we walked for a while.

Soon, there was a light shining at the end of the tunnel. Stepping through it revealed an entirely different world to us, so we thought. The path opened up and let us see what there was in the vast land. Down the hill, I could see tons of green shrubbery. Leafy hedges lined up in a way that reminded me of a giant maze, and a lot of rose bushes- some were red and others were white.

"Whoa..." we all dropped our jaws at the sight.

"Is this someone's garden?" Sora wondered.

"I'd hate to be the gardener," I shook my head.

In the middle of the maze, there was something going on. It was not a castle, but I could see some kind of building hiding behind the hedges. Maybe that was where the rabbit was going. He did mention a queen while he was frantically running along, so I assumed them both to be there. All of us together, we ventured into the maze in hopes of reaching the rabbit. There were some Heartless to deal with, but we defeated them and continued on.

"Grrr... I hate this place," Donald growled.

Almost an hour passed.

We made another turn at a corner; it was one of several. It really was a maze and a hard one at that. Sora was in the lead, followed by Donald and Goofy, and then me. But, he had no idea where he was going. We just took turns walking ahead of each other, hoping that someone would take the group in the right direction. But, absolutely no one did anything right.

"Gwarsh, this is a lot harder than I thought," Goofy whimpered.

"We've been at this for a while..." I sighed and dropped my shoulders. "Maybe we should have taken that left."

Was all hope lost? It might as well have been, but we kept on walking until we bumped into something different. We didn't have to wait very long for that to happen, though. As soon as we pushed on through some bushes, our attention was brought to an unexpected scene.

Cards wearing helmets and holding weapons were everywhere. They looked like the cards Sora and I played with back home but these ones were more like guards. "Oh, they must be the jury," one of the guards said, spotting us. "Let 'em through!"

"Jury?" Sora whispered to me, but I only shrugged my shoulders. It was most likely best to not question it. They looked a little mean with those axes and spears in their hands.

Without making eye contact, we walked through the line of guards to the back of what appeared to be a court room. It certainly was a trial of some kind. As I stood in the back with Sora and the others, I saw a girl in a blue dress standing before a plump figure who must have been the judge. And then the white rabbit in his fancy tuxedo entered the scene, running up some stairs to the top of a platform, where he blew his horn to quiet down the court. He looked out of breath...

"Court is now in session!" he announced, shouting at the top of his lungs as if to catch the ears of everyone in the world.

The girl in the blue dress gasped and held onto the edges of the podium tightly. "I'm on trial?!" she feared. "But why?"

However, her voice did not reach the rabbit's ears, and he went on with his announcement.

"Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" he finished.

We followed everyone's gaze to the plump lady in the high throne that overlooked the courtroom. She wore a black and white dress and had a golden crown on her head. The heart-shaped wand in her hands looked like one of those lollipops that I loved to snack on when I was a little girl, which made me want to giggle. This _Queen of Hearts_ peered down at the blonde-haired girl with cold eyes. Squinting, she let out a growl and pointed an accusing finger. "This girl is the culprit," the queen said without a shadow of doubt. "There's no doubt about it. And the reason is... Because I say so, that's why!"

"That is so unfair!" the girl protested, slapping her hands down on the podium.

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" the Queen of Hearts, not yet revoking the accusation, questioned the girl.

"Of course!" the girl said, folding her arms across her chest. "I've done absolutely nothing wrong. You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so... so mean!

Sora and I gulped when the Queen of Hearts slammed her fists down. The impact shook the entire court, and her voice nearly deafened our ears. Even the guards' legs were shaking. "Silence!" the queen had yelled out. "You dare dey me, the queen of this world?!"

It looked like things were getting a little rough over there. I couldn't help but feel bad for that girl and hoped that she really did nothing wrong to upset that lady. "Hey, guys, shouldn't we help her out?" Sora asked, gesturing to the poor girl in the middle of facing the queen's wrath.

"Yeah, we should, but the..." Donald shivered, and his voice trailed off.

"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" Goofy jumped in, in an attempt to remind us of something we were supposed to avoid doing.

" _Meddling_!" Donald corrected him, but he shut his bill when a couple of guards turned their heads.

Goofy nodded, "Oh, yeah. And that's against the rules."

Against the rules? Of course. I sighed and furrowed my brows. They did mention something like that on our way here, so we promised not to do any meddling while we looked for our friends. But, I felt so bad because there was nothing we could do to help that girl. She looked so defenseless and innocent. I couldn't find anything bad about her. It was hard to believe that someone like her would cause any trouble.

"The court finds the defendant guilty as charged!" the Queen of Hearts made her judgement known to the people of the court, waving her heart wand around. That was to be expected, but I was eager to find out what the reason was. "For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart... Off with her head!"

"No! No! Oh, please, no!" the girl cried out as the guards readied their weapons.

"Kara!" Sora grabbed my wrist and pulled me along.

I ran with him and pulled my arm back. "I know," was all I said, and we hurried to stop the guards from hurting her. We pushed through their formation, with Donald and Goofy right behind us.

"Hold it right there!"

Immediately, everyone stopped and turned to us. Even the queen shut up and looked away from the girl she wanted punished.

"Who are you brats?!" she grumbled, glaring at us. The Queen of Hearts was not expecting anyone to just intervene like we did. Probably no one ever thought about it with that temper of hers. "How dare you interfere with my court? State your business, or it's off with all of your heads!"

"Um..." Sora walked forward nervously. "Excuse me, but we know who the real culprit is!"

"Uh-huh," Goofy nodded. "Ya see, it's the Heartle-"

Before he could finish that sentence, he clamped his own mouth shut and let Sora go on.

"Anyway... that girl's not the one you're looking for," he continued.

The queen impatiently tapped her fingers on her armrest. None of what he said convinced her of the girl's innocence. "That's nonsense," she scoffed and looked the other way. "Have you any proof?"

"P-Proof?" I stuttered.

It caught us off guard, and they threw the girl into a bird cage as a result. Return with evidence of Alice's innocence was what the Queen of Hearts demanded of us. If we didn't, then we would be facing the very same punishment. We weren't wanting to meddle in the affairs of the world, but it looked like we had no choice but to do so now.

But, first, I wanted to check on the girl, Alice, before we left to prove her innocence. She looked frightened in that cage.

When Alice saw us, she stood up and gripped the golden bars and silently pleaded for help. "Who are you?" she asked politely.

"I'm Sora," he introduced himself first.

"My name's Kara," I said.

"I'm Goofy, and that there's Donald," the goofball said after us. Even in the stress of the moment, Alice found the time to be a courteous girl. I think I was right about there not being anything bad about her. She was way too kind and spoke in a way that was awfully pleasant.

"Pleased to meet you, though I do wish it were under better circumstances," she said. "I'm very sorry you got mixed up in this nonsense."

"Why are you on trial in the first place?" I asked her, curious about the whole thing.

"I should like to know the very same thing!" Alice exclaimed. "Apparently I was guilty from the moment I took the stand."

It was crazy to think about, but we believed her after witnessing the ordeal she went through. Unlike anyone that we've ever met before, the Queen of Hearts seemed eager to throw the blame on someone who may very well have been entirely unrelated to the matter. Well, we still had some time to kill, so we chose to talk to Alice a little more to get to know her.

"So, where are you from?" Sora asked her, but she became quit and searched for the words.

"Hmm... curious," she said in a hushed voice. "I can't quite remember. You see, I found this mysterious rabbit hole. When I tried to peek inside, I tumbled in head over heels... And I found myself here."

"Whoa, so you're from another world!" Sora blurted, but then cleared his throat as if he hadn't just said that. I raised a brow at him, not approving of the slip. Sure, we were meddling now, but it was still not a good idea to let others in on the whole... _other worlds_ thing. Still, it was very interesting to find out that Alice was not from Wonderland.

"That's funny," Goofy rubbed his chin. "Maybe you don't need a ship, then."

"I don't get it," Donald quacked.

Alice tilted her head to the side, confused. "What do you mean... _another world_?" she asked.

But before anyone could try to dissolve the conversation into something else, the guard in charge of watching over Alice appeared and put himself in between us and her. He looked intimidating, to say the least. "That's enough!" he said, puffing his chest. "The defendant will be silent!"

As we backed away, she muttered something about regretting her curiosity over the rabbit hole and something about talking to a cat- a _Cheshire Cat_.

 _Ah, so it was that cat who told her to come here_ , I thought to myself. It was possible that finding the Cheshire Cat would help us in proving her innocence. We left the queen's court and hurried to find the evidence. It was important that we got her out of there before it was too late. The Heartless would only target the Queen of Hearts again even after, so we had to do our best.


	16. Evidence is Everything

The search for evidence began when we entered the lotus forest. A couple of guards showed us the way through the maze, but they quickly returned to the domain of the Queen of Hearts. They complained and warned of unusual _monsters_ lurking around the forest, and much of Wonderland for that matter. It seemed to us that they had no interest in what became of us even if we were doing the dirty work. Well, I didn't mind it so much. I kind of figured that those guys were really no good.

But, what was really no help or anything had to be all of these random signs pointing in every direction. The forest was packed with a lot of them. Go this way, go that way, and so on. There were only a couple real paths to follow, yet most of the signs pointed into the bushes. It was a little confusing with all of them there.

"Er..." Sora slowed down, and he looked around. "Which way are we supposed to go now?"

"Beats me," Donald replied, tapping his foot impatiently.

I sighed and took a break from walking. There was no way to tell which way to go. Behind me, I could see nothing but over-sized weeds and a dark haze making it impossible to see where had come from. _No good, we can't really go back now. Looks like we're on our own from this point on._

"This is the worst," I mumbled and leaned back against one of the giant flowers. _Huh? Something fuzzy. What is that?_ Flowers didn't have fur, unless it was one of the world's annoying tricks. The soft patch tickled the back of my arms and neck. It twitched playfully and wiggled against my neck. I stifled a laugh and swatted at the furs trying to tease my nose.

"Uhh, where'd ya get that fancy scarf, Kara?" Goofy asked.

The fluffy limb slithered under my chin and rested on my shoulders, only to be torn off by my hands and tossed to the side. "I never had one," I rolled my eyes and glared at the... dismembered tail? My shoulders shivered. It was a cat's tail, but there was nothing connected to it. "W-What's the big deal?!"

"Wahh!" Donald let out a scream and darted to Goofy's side. The magician latched onto Goofy's pant leg and trembled in fear. No words to describe it, Donald only pointed at something in the trees. A pair of eyes looking right at us, but they weren't yellow and glowing.

Sora jumped ahead of us and brought out his Keyblade. "Show yourself!"

Well, whatever it was wasted no time in revealing itself to us, but we were shocked by what we saw again. A cat's head popped out from the shadows before vanishing, and it did that several more times before finally stopping on a felled tree. The rest of its body appeared immediately after and reconnected. We all froze.

"Who are you?!" I demanded to know, overcoming the fright.

"Who, indeed?" the cat replied, swishing his tail back and forth. He sighed solemnly and gave us a half-lidded stare. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"

"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us," Sora narrowed his eyes.

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers- but doesn't always tell," the striped cat teased, slowly vanishing. "The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness."

So this was the Cheshire Cat that Alice mentioned before. In spite of our calls, he wasn't undoing the invisibility. _"They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit. There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all!"_ were the words left behind to us.

Maybe he was trying to help us. He did give us a little hint on the evidence that we needed, and it had to be for Alice.

"Should we trust him?" Donald asked, looking up at me and Sora.

Leave it to Donald's mouth to make the Cheshire Cat show up again. I was startled when the purple and pink cat suddenly appeared behind the short-tempered duck. Well, we all were caught by surprise. "To trust, or not to trust?" the Cheshire Cat mused. "I trust you'll decide!" Gone for good this time, the Cheshire Cat disappeared to someplace else and left us to our own devices.

It was hard to trust him since he was the one who got Alice into trouble with the Queen of Hearts, but we decided to put in a little effort to believe in what he said. We searched all through the lotus forest and back in the bizarre room where the doorknob was still sleeping. In as many places as we could possibly reach, we found what evidence we could to prove Alice's innocence.

Three of the four that the Cheshire Cat mentioned were in our possession, but Sora and I were adamant in getting that last piece. It was just as he said, the last one was a tricky one to get. The boys tried their hardest to get to it, but they were unable to jump far enough. I was still clinging to the steel pipe with all my might in hopes that I wouldn't fall all the way down like they did. "W... Why in the world is this thing so high?" I wanted to know, because it was nearly to the ceiling unlike a normal spout.

"You can do it, Kara!"

"Don't look down!"

"You better not fall!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy all gave me their words of encouragement. At least, I was sure they were trying to encourage me. It wasn't very helpful to me in my situation. "Okay, here I go," I breathed out. Keeping my eyes on the piece of evidence on the shelf ahead of me, I inched forward a little bit. It took all of the bravery in me to jump over the gap between, but I managed to make an attempt.

Although my foot slipped, I made it across to where I needed to be. It was a close one, for sure, but I retrieved the fourth piece of evidence that we needed.

"Oh my, what a feat," the Cheshire Cat appeared on the pipe, where I was standing before. "And, look at what you've found. Nice going, little girl. That's all of it!"

"So, now we can save Alice with this," I stated, holding onto the box.

The Cheshire Cat chuckled, and he rolled over onto his side. "Ah, but don't be so confident about that," he told me. "Alice may be innocent, but what about you?"

I furrowed my brows together and glared at the riddling feline. "What do you mean by that?" I asked him, but he only grinned more.

"I won't tell," the Cheshire Cat said, standing up on his tail. "But, a little present. You know how to use magic, of course. Your friends, too."

A little sparkle of light shot out from his finger and struck me in the forehead, but it didn't hurt. It felt cold but a warmth relaxed my body. I looked at the palm of my hand and noticed a frosty aura rising up. "This is... magic!" I gasped, realizing the power flowing through me. _You've attained the power of ice. This spell is a weak form of ice magic. Use it well._ An echoing voice spoke into my ear. It spoke of the power that I was given.

I closed my hand into a fist as the Cheshire Cat disappeared from my sight, and I thanked who I could for learning a new magic spell. It was going to come in hand sooner or later. While what he said about us being innocent or not was concerning, I got back down to the others and put all of the evidence together. No doubt, it was going to help us get Alice out of that cage.

"Great, now let's get back to there and save Alice!" Sora cheered, and he lead the way back to the queen's castle.

When we got back, we spoke to one of the guards standing by the queen's throne "Are you ready to present evidence before the queen?" the guard asked us, and we nodded. Accepting everything we had, the guard motioned for us to follow him. "Counsel, step up to the podium."

Sora and I were responsible for proving Alice's innocence, but we didn't really have any experience in court cases. This was sort of new to us, so we hoped for the best.

What was the worst that could happen?


	17. Real Shadows

**I can never get over Kingdom Hearts, but it's great to do something different once in a while. Like, for instance... a new Kingdom Hearts game! We've had some good news from Square Enix lately, and a lot of trailers for KH 3. What are your thoughts on all this juicy information being released? (-w-)**

* * *

With the presentation of the evidence coming right up, the courtroom became incredibly tense. Both Sora and I were nervous facing the Queen of Hearts, but she was glaring daggers at us. And Alice, she was looking eager for some good news. It was a good thing that I didn't have to go through this alone. But, hopefully we could put up a good defense to pin the blame on the Heartless. The queen was a tough one to please.

"Alright, get on with it," the Queen of Hearts grumbled. "Show me what you've found already."

Tough to please may have been an understatement. We did exactly what she wanted, and she was still impatient with us. Sora went ahead and took all of the evidence that we collected, then he set it out in front of the Queen of Hearts and her guards. Even she had to admit that it was a lot more than what she was expecting, but apparently she wasn't impressed by our efforts.

"Cards!" the Queen of Hearts suddenly yelled, and one of the spear-wielding cards rushed to her side. "Go and bring forth **my** evidence!"

Added onto the abundance of evidence was another piece provided by the queen. _I didn't think she would bother looking_ , I clenched my teeth. Something about that box the card brought out didn't seem right. It was a little fishy, but I refrained from bringing it up with the Queen of Hearts herself. The last thing I wanted was to have my head cut off...

"Wha- Oof!"

It was an unexpectedly dramatic accident that we got to witness. While he was setting out the evidence, the guard tripped up and got all of the boxes in a cluttered mess. It was hard to tell which was which now. The Queen of Hearts was visibly livid about it and scolded the card, though it was not _"off with his head!"_ for the poor guy.

As soon as everything was cleaned up, the court continued on with the trial.

"Hmm, checking it all would only be a waste of time," the Queen of Hearts hummed. "You! Girl! Choose one that you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence."

"What?" I dropped my shoulders. "After all the trouble of collecting everything?"

We had to risk life and limb for this evidence, and she wanted me to pick only one. It was ridiculous and unfair, I thought. What was so hard about opening up a few boxes and seeing their contents? But...

"You dare object?!" the Queen of Hearts slammed her fists on her throne in a spitting rage. "Then you will lose your head! Choose! One box!"

"Okay."

I pursed my lips and walked around to where all of the evidence was. Which one was hers? Which ones were ours? Thanks to the guard, I had no idea of telling them apart. There was the slim chance for me to end up choosing the wrong one, and that probably meant getting Alice imprisoned for good. I had to be careful, that was for sure.

"Um... What about this one?" I muttered to myself. In front of me was a box second to the end, on the right side. It was a little beat up from being fallen on, but it might have been one of ours.

 _You sure about that?_

A voice spoke to me in a low tone. It was like a whisper almost. "Hm?" I folded my arms and looked around with my eyes. It wasn't one of the guards. All of them were too busy keeping quiet around the queen. This voice... Just like before, it seemed to be all in my head.

Well, what did this voice have to say about the evidence? Maybe it was trying to help me choose the right one. Well, help was much appreciated since I wasn't allowed any second chances.

 _Can't you feel the difference? The darkness does not exist in this one. Pick another. Just do it, if you don't want trouble..._

If I didn't want trouble? Well, that was the last thing I wanted, and none of the others wanted to be in another trying mess. I wasn't entirely sure if I should have been listening to some voice in my head, but it raised a good point. So what if I had picked that particular box? I once heard of situations where people planted evidence to wrongly frame another person. This was not going to turn into one of those situations, so I decided to go for another box.

Plucking one of the other tattered boxes from the ground, I lifted it up and handed it to one of the guards. "Finally!" the queen yawned and straightened her back to look inside it. Her thin lips curved upward into a hideous grin as her tiny fingers pushed the lid off. "Now we shall see who the real culprit is."

And so the real culprit was revealed... and it was nothing that the queen and her guardsmen were expecting. Alice, too, gasped from inside her prison. Sora rushed to my side when a strange substance spilled from the box and onto the ground. It was darkness, but in an unusual form none of us had ever seen before. It took shape into one of the Shadows we usually saw, but it didn't live long enough to do any damage. Sora whipped out his Keyblade and took care of it before anyone got hurt.

The court fell silent for some time. All we could hear were the birds chirping, but they soon shut up when the Queen of Hearts let out a shriek.

"What in the world was that?!" she slammed her fists again and rose from her throne. The crown on her head was knocked out of place after witnessing a piece of the truth. "A monster?!"

"There's your evidence," Sora said, looking pretty triumphant. "It proves that Alice is innocent!"

But, the queen's face reddened like a tomato. "Rrrrrrgh..." she growled lowly, fixing her crown. "Silence! I'm the law here! Article 29: Anyone who defies the queen is guilty."

"Hey, we didn't do anything wrong!" Donald quacked at his stand.

"Seize them all!" was the order of the enraged queen.

At once, the podiums and audience seats were taken away to make room for the guards. A tower near where the Queen of Hearts was rose up, and a couple of the cards used it to raise Alice's cage above our heads. A red curtain draped over the gold bars, hiding the poor girl from view. The entire army of cards had us surrounded, and they were readied with their spears to take us out.

We worked independently in the fight to save Alice. What helped was knocking the Queen of Hearts down, for the cards always went to her rescue. And while they were distracted with her, Sora and I took the chance to do something about the tower. It was not difficult breaking it apart, so we gave it some good hits to bring the cage back down to our level. When it did come down, the curtain moved away and let us check in on Alice.

"Gone?" I gasped.

"She must've gotten kidnapped while we were fighting," Donald pointed out, and Goofy nodded in agreement.

As usual, the Queen of Hearts reacted in anger and spewed her frustration at the cards. It was like she suddenly decided to work with us on this one, though, so that was a good thing.

"You fools!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!"

The cards scattered all over Wonderland in search of Alice, but none of them dared to go into the direction of the forest. They must have been scared of that place to even go near it. Before the queen turned her anger back on us, we left for the lotus forest once again to find out where that girl ended up. It was possible that the Cheshire Cat was around there, and it was possible that he had the answers that we needed.

In the forest, we looked around for a little bit until meeting up by a dead tree- the tree where we first met the Cheshire Cat. He wasn't around, nor was anything else for that matter. That was until a rock came flying through the air, landing only a few meters away from where we stood.

On top of the rock was a smiling cat. Just the feline that we were looking for. His random appearance was less of a surprise now, so we casually approached him.

"Have you seen Alice?" Sora asked him.

"Hm..." the Cheshire Cat scratched at his ear thoughtfully with his toes, "Alice, no. Shadows, yes!"

"Where'd they go?" Goofy wondered, looking around in hopes of catching any suspicious movement in the tall grass. But, the cat only pointed around in various directions with no clear answer as to where she might have disappeared to.

"This way? That way? Does it matter?" he questioned back at us. It was another one of those annoying riddles. "Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows! Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden. You might find shadows in the upside-down room!"

As soon as he was gone, we hurried along through the forest. Although, the Heartless were quick to stand in the way. The Shadows appeared with a new kind of Heartless- Large Bodies. That was what Jiminy called them. It was really only because they were really fat compared to the other Heartless. Hard to hit was what they were. The best way to take those Emblem Heartless down was to attack from behind or use magic.

Soon, we came upon the deserted garden that the Cheshire Cat spoke of. All we saw there was a decorated table and a weird portrait at the end that had a crying duo on it. _A very merry unbirthday_ read the sign next to the picture, but the words quickly shuffled around to read something else. _Sit down to get your present_.

 _Not suspicious at all..._

The voice in my head came back just in time to point out the fishy text. I didn't like the looks of it. The empty chairs. The lack silence. There was probably an ambush waiting for us if we did take a seat at the table.

"Come on, you guys, this is probably some kind of trick," I shook my head and walked away from the sign. But, when I got to the garden's exit, which was a door to some other area, I noticed that no one was following me. "Guys?"

"Oh boy!" Donald jumped into one of the chairs. "What kind of present will it be?"

"I don't know, but I hope it's something nice," Goofy chimed in.

"Let's sit down and find out!" Sora of all people was also caught up in the excitement. I was baffled by their eagerness to get presents.

On occasion, after they were tossed out of the chairs and onto the ground, they got a lot of surprise presents. I was a little happy to see that we got some munny out of it. Of course, on the other hand, we were attacked by some Heartless hidden in a couple of the presents.

I defeated the last of them and let out a sigh. No more presents...

Our somewhat richer group continued on to a strange part of Wonderland. Well, we weren't exactly sure where we were. It was so dark. I could barely see five feet in front of me.

"They're hiding somewhere. And the momeraths outgrabe," the Cheshire Cat, suddenly appearing nearby, said to us as we struggled to figure out why we were on the ceiling. "Want to find the shadows? Try turning on the light."

There were a couple tables with unlit lamps on them, so Sora and I went over to them. The first lamp was lit by Sora, and the Cheshire Cat appeared next to the other one.

"It's too dim," he said. "Make it brighter."

"Then what?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

The Cheshire Cat rested his head in his hands and curled his tail. "One more lamp that you need to light," he began, and so we lit the other lamp to brighten it up. I was surprised that only the two of them were enough to illuminate the entire area. The light was stronger than I thought. "All the lights are on now. You'll see the shadows soon. They'll arise in this room, but somewhere else. The shadows might go after that doorknob, too."

Yet again, he gave us a riddle to decipher. What did it mean? In this room, but somewhere else. There were no places for the Heartless to hide around here anymore since the light cleared it up for us. It couldn't possibly be here. Unless...

"Is that?" my mouth dropped.

"Kara, what is it?" Sora looked to me as I stared up at the 'ceiling'.

The answer to the riddle was right there, above our heads. It was hidden by the darkness but only until we lit the lamps. I could see the doorknob up there, and he was still sleeping. From here, it seemed like the Heartless were nowhere near him, so he was safe for a time.

"We need to go back to that there," I said, pointing at the other part of the bizarre room.

"Whoa, what?" Sora blinked in surprise. "Isn't that where we started? So, that means that we can save Alice! We'd better hurry!"


	18. The Darkness Will Not Stop

The Heartless were attacking nonstop while we made our way back through the big maze outside the queen's castle. Not only that, but it felt like it was taking us a lot longer going through there than before, or maybe it was just because we lost our way again. It wasn't so easy the first time, either.

We stuck together until the end of the maze and climbed the steep hill to the tunnel that took us back to the bizarre room. Amazingly, the attacks thrown at us from the Heartless stopped as soon as we went through.

They just stopped coming out from wherever they were hiding.

"Hey, I don't see any of them in here," Donald blurted, and Goofy made sure to confirm it by literally looking everywhere.

"Maybe they gave up," Sora said.

That was hard to believe. Those Heartless didn't seem like the type to just give up right away. Although, none of them seemed to follow us in through the tunnel. It was not very likely that the maze of hedges slowed them down, because they could use their darkness to pop up anywhere they wanted, apparently.

"I have a bad feeling about this," I mumbled, though no one seemed to hear me.

It was the Cheshire Cat who told us that the Heartless would be coming to this part of the bizarre room, yet we saw no signs of them leading an attack. The doorknob was still sleeping peacefully in his usual spot, too, so I doubted that he saw any suspicious activity around these parts. I didn't see Alice anywhere, either. If the bad vibe was telling me anything, it was that we were tricked into believing a lie.

Nothing out of the ordinary. We just saw a new flower pot in the corner, and it dropped some items for us- a couple potions and a mythril shard. The mythril shard had nothing special about it, Donald told me when I picked it up, but I kept it in my pocket anyway. Maybe it would be of help later on. Now, as for the potions, we were in need of some more, so Goofy took care of adding those to our stock of growing supplies.

"The heroes have finally come!" a nasally voice spoke up from out of the blue. Sitting up on the table was, of course, the Cheshire Cat with his usually big grin. He waved at us and motioned for us to come to him. "Up higher! You'll have a much better view from up here."

"Great, now we have to climb..." Donald moaned, but he did it anyway as to not be left behind.

We climbed up the chair and then onto the round table to confront the misleading cat. In spite of our irritated expressions, he stood up to greet us and clasped his small hands together. "Good news!" he exclaimed, doing an interpretive dance. "The shadows should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!"

Before any of us could speak our mind, the Cheshire Cat disappeared from view in a fleeting manner. He was pointing upward, at the ceiling.

But, why?

"H-Heartless!" Sora yelled, being the first to see it coming.

"Giant Heartless!" Goofy corrected him, ducking for cover behind one of the bottles on the table.

Falling from the ceiling was a towering Heartless with a colorful theme going on. It leaped over the table, and stared at each one of us with all 10 of its yellow eyes. Spindly legs and paper-like arms. This was a Heartless not like any of those we had ever seen before. The pair of clubs it juggled looked really dangerous, too.

 _So this is what the Cheshire Cat was warning us of_ , I thought to myself and summoned the Keyblade to my hand. _It's bigger than the last one, but no matter!_

"Come on, Kara!" Sora called out to me as he jumped down from the table to ground level. He and the others were already moving on with trying to beat it; I followed after them and shot some Blizzard spells at the Heartless.

 _Trickmaster._

Jiminy named it in a, more or less, creative way. It looked like the type to have many tricks up its sleeves. But, we all had our weapons drawn and ready to take care of the invading darkness.

It tried to stomp on us with its bladed feet and its clubs came swinging down from the sides. For a time, it really was a simple battle and turned out to be pretty easy. It went fine until it used the stove to light the clubs on fire.

I rolled out of the way of one of the fireballs and shot some ice out at the next when it came at me. Most of the Trickmaster's attention was on me, but that was a good thing. It gave the others time to get a few good shots at it. Sora's strikes were surprisingly strong enough to get its legs wobbling, and the Heartless collapsed a moment later.

The moment it became crippled was the moment we were waiting for. Letting loose all the power we had in us, we struck the giant Heartless ruthlessly until it couldn't fight anymore.

"Time to finish this!" I clenched my teeth and dashed across the checkered tile to the Heartless.

It was beginning to regain its strength, but I was not about to let it continue wreaking havoc around Wonderland. Jumping into the air, I swung upward with my Keyblade and struck it in the head with all the power in me.

Staggering in its steps, the Trickmaster dropped the clubs in its paper hands and fell backward to the ground. I panted and watched it fading away, but then something rose from the embers of darkness. It looked like a crystalline heart. In an instant, it was gone, so I was left to wonder what it was all about.

A victory was a victory, though. There was no point in dwelling on it for so long, especially when it was out of sight.

"Phew... I'm sure glad that's over," Sora took a few deep breaths, then let out a sigh of relief. I nodded in full agreement. It wasn't exactly the easiest battle we fought, so I was glad to be done with it now.

"Yaaawwwn! What a racket," the doorknob that had been snoozing through the whole ordeal finally awoke. But, he was still half asleep and complaining without noticing any of us there with him. "How's a doorknob to get any sleep around here?"

He let out another big yawn, but we noticed something peculiar when he opened his mouth wide. A shining light that was in the shape of a keyhole.

"What is that?" Donald asked, scratching his bill.

"Looks shiny," Goofy leaned in close to examine the strange light.

"But, what is it?" Sora was curious to know.

A closer look at the light was enough to get the idea that it was a keyhole. Just... It wasn't like any normal keyhole. This was a special kind of one, I knew that for sure.

"Wait," I straightened my back and folded my arms. We were told that the Heartless were going to try and go after the doorknob, so... "Is this what that Heartless was after?"

"Uh, hey... What's going on?!" Sora was trying to think it over when, suddenly, his Keyblade began to glow.

Light gathered at the tip of the blade and shot out a beam into the keyhole. The light grew brighter, until a sound rang out, and then it dimmed down.

"What was that?" Donald asked, poking at Sora's Keyblade.

"Did you hear that?" Sora, half ignoring Donald, put a hand to his ear as the sound we all heard faded. "It sounded like something closed."

"Oh, would ya look at that," Goofy stepped up to something that fell on the ground. It looked like one of those gummi blocks from the ship. "Hmm, this gummi ain't like the others. No, sir."

I picked it out of Goofy's hands and looked at it closely. It was curved and colorful. Definitely not like the other ones they had. Possession over the gummi block ultimately went to Donald, though, so we ended our brief study.

"That was splendid work," said the Cheshire Cat, who appeared back on the table. He stood up there and had his gaze fixated on us. "You are quite the heroes. Mm, but if you're looking for Alice, I would give up. She's not here anymore. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness."

"No..." we all said in unison.

"We'd better go back to the gummi ship," Donald urged us on. "Maybe we'll find her in another world."

I sighed, "I guess you're right... Hopefully, she's safe wherever she is."


	19. Phil's Coliseum

The gummi ship was quiet ever since we left Wonderland.

Donald sat in the pilot's seat as he usually did, and Goofy was pressing buttons that blasted the obstacles in front of us out of the way. At the same time, Sora and I had our faces glued to the window.

"The stars sure are pretty," I giggled.

"Yeah, I guess they're okay," Sora shrugged his shoulders. "Isn't there anything to do right now? I'm getting bored."

"Want to spar? It's been a while since I last beat you," I suggested, leaning back in my seat.

"...No thanks," Sora pouted.

"No fighting in the gummi ship!" Donald still had his back to us when he yelled. I jumped under my skin and stuck my tongue out at the duck. _Geez, it's not like we were going to do it anyways_.

I rested my chin in my hand and stared out at the starry space again. Interestingly, the number of enemies looming around us increased in number, and they were all headed in the same direction as us. Not all of them were attacking, too, which was very odd. Well, maybe they had other plans instead of the usual getting in our way.

 _Are we there yet?_ I sighed and peered over Goofy's shoulder to see if we were even remotely close to another world. There was something big in front of us, but it certainly was no world. It was an... an asteroid! But, thanks to the gummi ship's enhanced weapons, the asteroid drifting toward us was obliterated. All that was left after was a bunch of enemy ships firing rockets at us, but they were also taken out by our ship.

"Hey, Donald, I think I see something up ahead," Goofy called out. He pointed at something in the distance. As massive as it was, what we were looking at was not an asteroid.

"Kara, look, it's another world!" Sora exclaimed, excitedly pulling on my arm. "It looks so cool!"

My eyes widened at the sight of the world. Its appearance was much different than Wonderland's and Traverse Town's. I could see a pair of golden statues with swords clashing together. The stone pillars standing together were all situated on what looked like clouds. _Gladiators?_ I wondered.

"It looks like a coliseum," I blinked, and Goofy gave a nod.

"This must be Olympus Coliseum," Donald cut Goofy off right when he was about to say something. "Prepare for landing!"

Donald found a place to park the gummi ship where no one else would find it, and we headed up to where the coliseum was. When we walked through a set of large gates, our eyes were captivated by nearly everything we looked at. I was looking forward to exploring this world some more, even if it took a little time to go through.

"Come on, no more sightseeing. Let's go look for the king," was all Donald had to say to us.

"Ahem!" Sora cleared his throat.

"Riku and Kairi, too," I said, folding my arms. Donald only grumbled and stomped away, though. "You know, I get the feeling that Donald doesn't want to help us."

We admired what we saw of the coliseum as we made our way to the next set of gates, to the lobby. I spotted a few plaques hanging on the stone walls. HERCULES. The name rang a familiar bell, but I couldn't think of where I heard it. Maybe it was in one of my history classes back at school. Well, whatever Hercules was doing around here, it looked like he was a really cool guy by the looks of these awards.

"Ow, my knee!" I winced in pain after ramming my knee into a stone pedestal.

"You okay, Kara?" Goofy asked in a worried voice as I sat on the ground hugging my leg.

"Why is that thing right there?" I whimpered. "Ugh... Yeah, I'm okay."

There was a lot of stuff in the way, actually, so it wasn't just the pedestal. The whole lobby was a mess with a whole bunch of stuff cluttered around the place.

Was there a tournament or something?

I got up to my feet after a moment and stepped over the discarded swords and spears on the floor. All kinds of training gear. Well, of course, because it was a coliseum.

"Oh, look over there," Sora pointed to a small creature standing over in the corner.

The upper half of it looked like a man, but the lower half resembled an animal. I scratched my chin in confusion and took note of the goat horns. He was moving some equipment to the side and dusting off a giant poster.

"Excuse me..."

"Great timing, champ." The short man cut Sora off while brushing off some dirt from the poster on the wall. "Think you could help me clean this place up?"

We weren't exactly sure about what was going on, but the guy was asking for our help. And it was a pretty big mess for one person to be cleaning, so we decided to do a little service and help tidy up. It took us a little while, but the four of us together took care of the equipment lying around the lobby.

"Um..." Sora tried again with talking to the goat man after putting away the last piece of gear.

"Took you long enough," he cut in again with his back still turned. "Anyway, give me a hand again, would ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games."

 _Pedestal?_ I blinked a couple times, but then it hit me.

Oh, right, so it was that big pedestal that I hit my knee on. The big block of stone looked pretty heavy. I doubted that any of us would be able to move it by ourselves, but it was still worth trying. Sora was the first to give it a shot. He planted his hands on the stone and pushed as hard as he could. "It... It weighs a ton!" he slumped against the pedestal, panting. Donald and Goofy, individually, tried their hands at moving it. And, of course, I tried it out myself. Not a single one of us were able to move the pedestal.

The stone block didn't even move an inch. I'd say it weighed far more than a ton. Unless we all had a growth spurt and got some extra muscles, there was probably no chance of us moving it any farther than where it was.

"Excuse us, but it's way too heavy," I told the half goat man, thankful that I was able to get a word in.

"What?! Too heavy?! Since when have you been a little-" he exclaimed and turned around to face us. Our appearances seemed to surprise him more than the fact we weren't able to move the pedestal for him. "Oh, well... Wrong guy. What're you kids doing here? This here's the world-famous Coliseum- heroes only! And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pip-squeaks."

He was going on a rant and didn't seem very interested in letting us off easy for paying a visit to the Coliseum.

"Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum," he went on to say, taking on a somewhat lighter tone. Walking like a tough guy, he went over to the pedestal and leaned his shoulder against it with a confident smirk on his face.

Ferocious monsters?

I could write a book about the Heartless. Those were ferocious monsters attacking the worlds, and we've been fighting them for a good while now.

"You've got heroes standing right in front of you!" Donald folded his arms and huffed.

"Yup!" Goofy nodded in agreement, and he put a hand on mine and Sora's shoulders. "These two are real heroes chosen by the Keyblade!"

"And we're heroes, too," Donald butted in again, gesturing to himself and Goofy.

Well, at least those two were determined in calling us heroes, but it didn't look like the little horned guy was too convinced. He abruptly broke out into laughter. "Hero? That runt?" he pointed and laughed at Sora, and then his eyes locked onto me. I stood there with my arms folded across my chest, waiting for another fit of laughter to erupt. "Ah ha... ha... ha ha. Well, you don't seem too awful bad, sweetie. Name's Philoctetes, by the way. Call me Phil. Don't wear it out."

"What?" I asked, but _Phil_ looked at Sora again and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Sora angrily asked Phil, breaking away from Donald and Goofy. "I've fought a bunch of monsters!"

Phil settled down for a moment and pointed his thumb at the pedestal. "Hey, if you can't even move this..." he started, pushing against the pedestal in an attempt to prove a point. However, just as we were, he was unable to make it budge a few centimeters. "...you can't call yourself..." This time he put more of his back into it, though it still seemed to be no good. "...a hero!"

I pursed my lips and shook my head. The others were simply watching and taking note of the failure. Sora folded his arms and looked approving of Phil's lack of strength.

Phil was slumped against the pedestal a minute later and gasping for air. Beads of sweat dropped from his chin as he sat there huffing and puffing. At the last second did he notice us watching. "Okay... so it takes a little more than brawn. Well, well, let's see what you kids can do. This trial is gonna be tough. You think you got what it takes?"

A test to prove myself as a hero? Phil was kind enough to offer it to both me and Sora, so we took a moment to consider it.

"We're ready!"


	20. The Games Aren't for Everyone

I didn't regret saying that I was ready to prove to Phil that I was a hero, too. Actually, it made me proud of myself to even think that I was close to ready. Even though he was a real piece of work and pelting us with obstacles, Phil seemed to be pretty encouraging of our efforts. He was unimpressed at first, but I was sure he'd come around eventually. It was a welcomed change since there didn't seem to be any Heartless around.

 _"Pick up those legs!"_

For the first trial that Phil had set up for the two of us, it was a quick run around the Coliseum's obstacle course on the other side of the arena. The track was ready with hurdles and hefty blocks to climb over, and there were a couple ropes to climb up to another obstacle focusing on our balance.

"C-Come on, Sora..."

"I think... I'm gonna pass out..."

I jumped the last hurdle before Sora and performed a vault over the block. He wasn't too far behind, but it looked like he wasn't entirely ready for this kind of test. Neither was I, really... Donald and Goofy were able to dodge a major bullet. They used some kind of excuse, I was sure. Something about _supporting the heroes in their training_. It sounded like a lame excuse to ditch free training.

We stayed neck at neck for the rest of the way until we got to the ropes. That was when I started getting ahead of him again and made my way across the narrow beam to the last section of the track, which was simply sprinting to the finish line. By the time I reached the red ribbon, sweat was drenching my clothes and stinging my eyes.

"Five minutes and nine seconds!" I heard Phil shout out from the bench. Then Sora finished, and Phil set the record for his time. "Five minutes, fifteen seconds... I've seen better, but this is good enough. Let's head over to the field for the next one."

If running under the hot sun wasn't enough to kill us, I wasn't sure what was. He hardly gave us time to break from the dash around the track obstacle. Was this really how heroes trained?

"Okay, kids, the rules are simple for this trial. Bust all the barrels in... I'll give ya 30 seconds."

There were about 20 barrels set up on some unevenly stacked platforms in the middle of the field. We were to go up there one at a time and take a run through busting the barrels. So, instead of seeing how we pulled through side by side, Phil was getting a look at our individual skill.

Sora went up first against the barrels. He was offered a sword by Phil, but he declined and chose to use his Kingdom Key in the test. The little man looked surprised seeing him summon it like he did. Yet, even though we brought our own tools, he accepted it and let us have a go.

I watched from the bench and cheered Sora on as he let loose his growing skill. Using wide strokes, he nailed several of them at once and finished in record time with roughly 10 seconds remaining.

"Not bad!" Phil chuckled, admiring the time on his watch. He caught himself a little late and cleared his throat. "For a beginner, that is."

"Phew... I did it!" Sora sighed in relief. He joined me on the bench and chugged an entire bottle of water down.

"Alright, girly," Phil called out, blowing his whistle in our ears. "You're up next."

"Gah! O-Okay," I jogged out onto the field and waited for the next set of barrels to get set up by Donald and Goofy.

It was the same kind of obstacle, for the most part, but the barrels were spread out in a somewhat different fashion. With 30 seconds on the clock, I did my work with busting up the barrels.

Simply throwing them into each other would take too much time, so I went about it the same way Sora did and started hitting them into each other. Doing it as swiftly and efficiently as possible made it go by really smoothly, I thought. Yet another record time- 15 seconds remaining on the clock.

"Alright, don't get too confident just yet," Phil puffed his chest. "You kids are going another round."

Well, breaking the barrels the first time wasn't all that hard, so we didn't protest against the idea of going again. Phil had a few more barrels added to the playing field, and we were given a full minute to destroy them all. It was to give us more of a challenge, supposedly.

My concern was the one barrel sitting up on a tall pillar in the middle of the field. Climbing it would take up too much time and trying to hit a barrel into it may not have been the most accurate... _What to do about that last one._

"I guess I'll go first this time," I nodded to Sora and walked out onto the field.

The timer started and I hurried along to break the barrels. It was a cinch going through most of them, but I stumbled a tad bit to get to the two that were sort of hidden behind the wall. Nonetheless, I picked myself up and focused on the very last barrel sitting on the pillar. _Magic!_ The plan of action popped into my head at just the right time.

"Fire!" I shouted, firing a ball of flames to destroy the barrel. Just as I hoped it would, the barrel exploded and brought the timer to a stop.

Phil was looking pretty amazed by my performance but never said how long it took me to finish. He was dropped into another pit of awe when Sora did his course, mirroring my run as he did it. We approached him afterward and snapped him out of his trance to get an idea of just how well we did.

"Hey, you kids are better than I thought!" Phil grinned, stroking his goatee. We followed him back to the lobby for a rest after the trials, when Phil gave us a few pats on the back. "You know, you two ain't half bad."

"Heh, looks like we're headed for the games!" Sora rubbed the back of his head and shared a look of confidence with me.

"We did kick butt out there," I was in full agreement, recalling how we practically owned the barrel bashing.

"Afraid not," Phil broke in and put his hands on his hips.

Donald let out a loud quack threateningly, but Goofy held him back. We were in a celebratory mood, but then it all came crashing down. "Why not?!"

Phil frowned and held up a couple fingers, "Two words: You guys ain't heroes."

At the same time, Goofy was counting the extra words. "Come on!" Sora pleaded for another shot at the games, but Phil turned his back on us. "I know we've got what it takes."

"Wanna become a real hero?" he asked us, and we quietly shook our heads yes. Phil looked around for a minute, then mentioned something that he liked from before when watching us during the training trials. Pointing to a thunderbolt design on a poster, he smirked and gave us a little test. "How about ya... Oh, yeah! If you can master some power like this, then I might consider you kids. Heck, you might even make the ole Zeus proud."

 _The power of lightning in the palm of your hand. It's nothing much, but I'll lend you some power._

My brows knitted together as the voice echoed in my ears, just like in Wonderland. It was hardly noticeable at first, but I felt the electrifying power tingling in my hands. _Is this magic, too?_ I wondered to myself. Letting it fade and settle down, I let out a disappointed sigh and headed for the exit. My eyes briefly caught glimpse of the poster Phil was dusting off.

 ** _Rule #1: In the games, the only thing you can hurt is your pride. Fight hard!_**

 ** _Rule #2: You can forfeit any time. Fight as much as you like!_**

"Guess we'll just have to get stronger, then," I muttered and followed the others through the doors.

It was too bad that Phil was unwilling to let us test our strength in the games. I was looking forward to becoming a real hero.


	21. Dealing With the Dead

As disappointed as we were about not receiving an entry pass into the Coliseum's upcoming tournament, we held our heads high as we left the lobby. It wasn't like it was a really big deal. The good thing about our visit to the Olympus Coliseum was that there were no Heartless attacking people. So far, things were looking good and safe. I just wished that Sora would smile for real even though he was unable to prove himself to Phil, the hero trainer. Behind that mask of his, I could tell that he was feeling down, too.

"It's okay guys," I stopped and glanced over my shoulder at the closing gates. "We might not be heroes in this world. But, so what?"

"Aw, but..." Donald whined.

"Weren't we gonna participate in the games?" Goofy asked.

"You heard Phil," Sora pouted, and he turned his head away. "He said he wouldn't let us fight. And no entry pass. Let's just go."

They turned around and started back for the gummi ship, and I went to follow after them. That was until an ominous chill creeping up my spine stopped my legs from moving forward. "Aaah... Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?" We slowly turned around and spotted the stranger leaning against one of the gold statues.

"Who are you?!" Donald, in a demanding tone, pointed his finger at the man.

This guy had gray skin and blue hair. No, his hair wasn't just blue, it was on fire. He wore dark robes with a skull clip, and his teeth were razor sharp. I got a bad feeling just looking at him.

With a chuckle, he pushed Donald to the side with only one finger and approached me and Sora. "Hold on there, fuzz boy," the mystery man said. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Now... Oh, wait, let me guess. You kids want to enter the games. Am I right?"

He disappeared suddenly, reappearing behind us. I realized that he was there at the last second when his hand rested on my shoulder. The smell of rotting... something filled my nose, making me want to gag. "Well, then, hey, get a load of this!" Like magic, one of the entry passes Phil said he wouldn't give us appeared in his hands.

"A pass?" Sora gasped, taking it from the stranger. "Isn't this breaking the rules?"

"Who says you can't get a little help getting into the games? Just take it," he said. "Good luck out there. I'm pulling for you little shorties. "

We were all in silence since receiving the entry pass to the games. That guy never gave us his name, and now we were supposed to give this conjured up pass to Phil when he said we weren't allowed into the games. But, as much as I wanted to question the suspicious gesture of kindness, we did have a pass.

"So..." Sora's voice trailed off.

"We're going to the games," I shrugged my shoulders.

Back at the lobby, we saw Phil fastening a sign in front of the entrance to the arena.

 **DO NOT ENTER** , it read.

"Um, Phil?" Sora walked up to Phil.

Surprised that we came back so soon, Phil folded his arms and chuckled. "I don't think you kids get it," he said. "No pass, no games."

Sora and I looked at each other. That was the rule, but we showed him the ticket.

"Hey, how'd you get this?!"

Telling him about what happened outside was probably a bad idea, so our lips remained sealed about the secret. This was our only shot at participating in the games, too.

It wasn't like we were breaking any of the rules. I saw nothing about outside help on that poster, so I was sure that this was just fine. Well, at least for now it was.

"So, can we enter the games or what?" Donald questioned Phil, and he looked a little impatient about it.

"I don't know how you got an entry pass," Phil shook his head. "Well... I guess I've got no choice. We start with the preliminaries! They start tomorrow morning. Go get some rest and prepare yourselves. Rule #8: Be ready for anything."

Finally after all the trouble we went through to get approval from Phil, he was going to let us participate in the games. We had all the time we needed today to get out things ready. There were plenty of curatives in our inventory, so we'd be just fine if we got a little hurt. Shopping around also gave us some time to explore the world and get to know the culture.

I was happy camping out in the gummi ship, most because it was super comfortable in the sleeping quarters. Since there was limited room in there, Sora and I shared a room while the other two stayed next door.

Claiming one half of the room as mine, I curled up under the blankets and prepared to relax for the night. It didn't beat sleeping in my own room, though. But just as I was about to fall asleep, a mumbling from behind me prevented me from shutting my eyes.

I flipped over and faced Sora with a glaring eye

"What're doing awake?" I asked him in a whisper. "If we don't sleep, then we won't be able to fight well in the preliminary rounds tomorrow."

Sora was facing me and looking a little concerned over something. "I... I'm sorry," he spoke up after a little while longer of mumbling to himself. He was about to cover his face up with the pillow, but threw it back down. "Do you think it's okay that we took that pass? I mean, it doesn't seem very fair. Phil told us not to, but we did... Didn't we?"

I closed an eye and sighed, "He said it wasn't against the rules, and Phil said nothing about getting the pass from strangers."

"I don't remember hearing him say that," Sora stated.

"He implied it," I dismissed his worrying. "Besides, we can fight in the games now. Nothing will go wrong if we're careful."

"Somehow, I'm not too sure about that," he said quietly, making me sigh dramatically.

Sitting up, I slipped my shoes back on and walked to the door. "I'm going to go for a quick walk," I said over my shoulder and silently shut the door behind me. Snores from the other room told me that Donald and Goofy were still asleep, so sneaking out for some fresh air was going to be simple.

It was quiet outside the Coliseum. In the darkness of the night, there were only a few torches lighting up the area outside the vestibule. I chose to sit in the shadows even with all the light there was. _Is it really fair that we get to fight?_ I wondered. There was something off about that man we got the pass from, now that I really thought about it. But, if we didn't get it from him, then Phil would have never let us into the games in the first place. That was the feeling I got from it. Well, questioning it now wasn't going to change anything. Tomorrow would be the day we take on the preliminaries.

I rested my chin in my hands and sighed, "I wonder if Riku is having a better time... wherever he is."

 _"Aw, don't look so gloomy, little miss."_

From out of nowhere, the same man who gave us the pass appeared. His fiery hair gave his position away when I looked up; he was standing on the other side of the stairs I was sitting on. Same as before, he looked smug and ready to call out anything on a whim. Who was this guy? "I know, those little butterflies before the big day really get to ya," he said casually. "But, hey, at least you get to live the dream!"

"Who are you?" I asked, backing away into the light. He seemed to follow me, which gave me a clear view of his dark features when he stepped into the flames' golden glow.

"Hades, Lord of the Dead, god of the Underworld. Nice to meet ya," he introduced. I was expecting him to dodge the question again, but it was surprisingly easy getting a name out of him. There was something about Hades that really rubbed me the wrong way. It was mostly the part about him being the Lord of the Dead but also the dark vibe I got when he stepped closer. "It must be hard not having that little boyfriend of yours lead the way. He's a real tough cookie."

"Boyfriend?!" I glared at Hades. "What are you even talking about?"

"Oh, you know," he hummed a cheerful tune. In his long pause, Hades appeared behind me before I even realized it and held his hand out over my shoulder. Black smoke rose from the palm of his hand, shaping into four different people. _What is this?_ I stared at the odd presentation with wide eyes. "A little bird told me a story once about a little world that went bye-bye when the darkness showed up."

The tiny, smoky images seemingly moved on their own. They ran together around Hades's arm and around my head as if they were racing. But, it wasn't long before a thick, black cloud of darkness swallowed them up. "He said that he was looking for his friends," Hades told me, twirling his finger in the smoke to reveal another image. The darkness dispersed, leaving only one of the smoke figurines left. "Too bad, he ended up alone in the darkness. I can't seem to remember his name... Rip... Ripper... Rikky?"

"Riku," I corrected him as I stared at the fading smoke in Hades's hands. "His name is Riku."

"Bingo!" Hades slapped my back, as if he was proud. He sighed and rested an arm on the top of my head. "Boy, that kid talks an awful lot about these friends of his."

"Where is he?" I asked, eager to know of my friend's whereabouts. "Is he doing okay?"

"Hmm... I know I saw him somewhere." He started humming again and stepped away. "Oh, right. I think you'll find the answer somewhere in the darkness. It's a little dark and gloomy, but I know you'll find him."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Riku was out there somewhere, and he was looking for me and Sora. Although Hades didn't say anything about Kairi, I had a feeling she was just fine, too. "I need to know where he is," my voice now stern, I ran up to Hades with a determined look in my eyes. "Can't you tell me where to go? Something!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Hades held up his hands defensively. "Easy there, tiger. The Lord of the Dead doesn't work for free. Here's the thing. I'm looking for some tough fighters to fight in the tournament. Turns out that there's a couple of rookies on that old goat's team that are pretty good. Think you could do me a solid and join team Hades?"

"You want me on your team?"

But, joining the opposing team would mean going up against Sora and the others in the tournament. I didn't want to fight my friends.

"Hey, it's a rule. It's just a game, so have fun with it," he pointed out. "Philocticus will just toss one of you squirts to the sidelines anyway. Can't have too many people on a team, you know. So, why not? Maybe I'll teach you how to be a real master of darkness as thanks. Think it over tonight and see me in the morning."


	22. Easy, so They Said It'd Be

"Alright kid, who're you going to have on your team?"

The four of us were standing in the middle of the lobby, dumbstruck. Phil stood there waiting for a response from Sora, who wasn't quite sure how to answer. "Well?" the satyr tapped his hoof impatiently. "The pass calls for three participants. You saw that, didn't you?"

"That can't be right!" Sora's eyes went wide. He snatched the entry pass from Phil and scanned the small text along the bottom line. Once, and then twice, he read over the fine print. "One pass... three participants. But, I can't choose between my friends!"

"Yeah!" Goofy chimed in as support. "We're all pals, so we gotta stick together."

"Aw phooey, that's not fair," Donald added.

I frowned a little at the fact that not all of us were going to be able to fight together in the games. _Is this what Hades was trying to tell me?_ I thought back to last night. He said something about being tossed out to the sidelines, and then there was this mess with the entry pass only letting in three fighters. Fighting against those three in the games was a dreaded thought but in no way would it make us enemies. I refused to let that happen.

But complaint was quickly throwing Phil into a corner. _Put us all together, or we won't fight in the games!_ I heard the guys make the demand. It was great that they were trying to keep us all together, but I had a feeling that Phil was not about to bend his own rules for our sake.

"You three go ahead and fight together," I said and let out a sigh.

"What?!" Their outburst startled me, but I quickly regained my composure.

"Are you sure, Kara?" Sora stepped forward and asked me.

"Of course I'm sure." I smiled and punched him lightly in the shoulder. It wasn't like some games were going to keep us from having fun together. There was still that one option I had to go through with, but it did mean putting myself in a frustrating position. I folded my arms and glanced over my shoulder. There was no clock, but it was getting to be around the time Hades wanted me to meet with him. "Look, I'll see you guys out there for the preliminaries. Don't wait for me!"

* * *

 _"You kids be careful out there," Philoctetes cautioned his three new competitors before heading out to the arena. The satyr scratched at his five o'clock shadow on his face and grumbled some inaudible words under his breath as he looked over the list of competitors. "Huh. Some real weirdos signed up for the games. I have a feeling things are gonna heat up, so you guys better be ready."_

 _"Okay!"_ _Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood at attention upon hearing the news from Phil. Regardless of their being odd opponents on the opposing team didn't concern them really. As long as it meant proving to the world that they were real heroes, they felt that nothing would stop them in the games._

 _"The prelims start soon," their trainer announced. "Meet me in the arena in an hour."_

 _The atmosphere became a little tense when Phil left for the arena. They watched as he took down the 'DO NOT ENTER' sign, but then the confidence they displayed before was beginning to slip away._

 _"Ya think we can do it without Kara?" Goofy expressed his concern over their partner who had just walked out._

 _It felt weird for them to have that empty space in their party._

 _She was like the glue that tied them together, or the older sister who kept them in line._

 _Sora folded his arms and shook his head, "Maybe she'll try to talk Phil into letting her join us in the games."_

 _"But, he already has the three of us signed up together," Donald pointed out on the roster pinned to the wall. Their names were the only ones on there- no Kara. In addition, there was another surprising bit of fine print stating that the roster was in its final draft. No changes were going to be made to it. "I don't think we'll get to be on the same team."_

 _"Well, whatever!" Sora huffed, and he started for the arena. "At least we'll have her cheering for us on the bench. Come on, you guys. Let's go!"_

* * *

About an hour elapsed in the preliminary rounds for the games, and I was able to watch my friends competing against a rather unexpected enemy. Hades claimed that the Heartless weren't going to be a problem around the Olympus Coliseum or the town outside the Coliseum. They were just here to fight in the tournament, so he said.

"You'll be fighting alone, but I doubt you'll have a problem against those morons," Hades told me before it was my time to fight, which was in reference to the Heartless.

They were surprisingly weak, or it was just that I had grown more in skill and fighting them got to be too easy. Getting through all ten rounds was a breeze. And, before I knew it, Hades was calling me out to sit back and watch the other competitors fight. I thought he would come out to the arena and congratulate me, but he was hiding out in the shadows where no one could see him. It made me wonder about his secretiveness quite a bit.

 _"Take this!"_

 _"Thunder!"_

 _"A-hyuk!"_

Phil's team was out on the field fighting Heartless. Their voices snatched my attention as I sat on the bench. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were kicking butt out there. It was like those three were the perfect team for taking on the games. Not much time passed during their first match. They put an end to it in half the time it took Sora to smash those barrels in training. "You're no heroes yet, but you ain't doing bad," Phil was telling them as soon as they got out of the ring. "Lucky you came to me for coaching."

"Good job out there, you three," I congratulated my friends and ran up to them before it was time for them to move onto the next round.

"Kara!" they exclaimed.

The four of us were laughing and hugging each other as though it had been months since we last saw each other. "What're you doing out here?" Sora asked me, releasing my neck from a choking embrace. "I thought you weren't going to be fighting in the games."

"Why'd you lie?" Donald squinted his eyes suspiciously.

"Lie?" I raised a brow and cocked my head to the side. "I don't remember saying that I wasn't going to fight."

"We aren't going to have to fight you... right?" Goofy was a little more down than the other two about my position in the games.

"Seems like it," I shook my head, frowning. "Don't you worry, though. Let's have fun with... it?"

We were enjoying our casual conversation with each other, until a shady man walked into the arena. A dark aura surrounded him as he stepped between me and the others, nearly shoving us to the sides. He had spiky hair and a red cape flowing behind his back. The daunting look in his eyes briefly studied me before locking onto Sora.

 _Wait, I think Hades mentioned this guy to me before_ , I thought to myself. A dark and moody guy, what Hades called him, would also be fighting in the games. That was basically it for when it came down to appearances, and this guy who walked over to the other side of the arena fit the description. If I remembered it right, his name was Cloud.

"Something tells me he'll be a tough one to beat," Phil grunted. But, he was just as spooked as Donald was. I could see his furry legs trembling. "Who knows, maybe you'll end up facing him. Anywho, you boys get back out there and win this thing!"

I watched from the sidelines with Phil as Sora, Donald, and Goofy took on more matches in the preliminary rounds. The whole time, our satyr trainer was on the edge of the bench biting into his clipboard. "You're doing better than I thought, kid!" he cheered Sora on when he got done with his latest match. "Boy, I sure wish _he_ was here to see this."

"Who?" we wondered.

"Hercules. He's a hero if ever there was one," Phil explained. "Too bad he's off visiting his father. I'll have to tell him all about you guys."

Some time passed and more matches were won by Sora and the others. I was set to fight the winner of the next match, which was between them and Cloud.

Their match went on for a long time. Cloud was able to keep all three of my friends at bay with his sword skills alone. The way things were going for the first half of the match, it looked like they were going to lose and be dropped out of the games. But, we were all taken by surprise. A surge of spirit visibly burned within Sora, who jumped ahead of the others and fought on par with Cloud. I was jumping up from the bench to cheer him on as he matched swings with the buster sword wielder.

Shortly after being pelted with a barrage of strikes from the Keyblade, Cloud dropped to one knee in defeat. "Alright! You did it!" Phil was cheering from the stands. "Good going, you brat! I knew you could do it!"

"This... This isn't over yet!" Suddenly, the blonde-haired swordsman shot up with his large sword over his shoulder. He was still able to move even after the harsh beating he took in the match, which should have ended when he hit the ground. A dark aura enveloped his body as he threatened to deal a killing blow to Sora.

"No!" I shot up from the bench and ran for Sora in an attempt to protect him, but I was too late.

No, I wasn't too late to save my best friend from death. Cloud's sword wasn't even close to hurting him. It was something else that I was too late in preventing. Rather, it happened unexpectedly without anyone knowing of its approach. I gritted my teeth and ran around the giant, clawed paw that pounded Sora's opponent into the ground, and I reached the others without a problem.

The three-headed beast had broken through the arena walls just to interrupt the games, and it succeeded in taking one person down. I clamped my hands over my ears when it roared.

"What is that thing?!"


	23. Junior Heroes of the Coliseum

Much of the Coliseum was wrecked by the intruding monster, and Cloud was still being pinned to the ground as it rampaged. Goofy protected us with his shield when debris threatened to hit us. In the midst of all the destruction, I caught sight of a certain man with fire for hair.

"Hades!" I gritted my teeth.

The god of the Underworld was smirking at the handiwork of his _pet_. "Oh, that's right, there was one other rule I forgot to mention: Accidents happen," he said from the safety of the tunnel. Hades turned his back on us, disappearing into the shadows.

"What now?" Donald panicked.

There was nowhere for us to run with the monster trying to snap at us from all angles. All three heads of the giant beast were about to chomp down on us where we stood, only to be pushed back by a heroic man rushing in to save the day. I only caught a glimpse of his blue cape when he dashed in.

The man had defined muscles and wore gladiator armor. And, with his own two hands, he held back the three-headed dog. "Herc!" Phil yelled out from the stands, having avoided a chunk of stone that fell. _Herc?_ I blinked in surprise, ducking from a flying object. _Does he mean Hercules?_

"Phil, get them out of here!" the man who I thought was Hercules ordered Phil to pull us out of the arena.

Taking care of that thing looked like a difficult task; Sora and I were both reluctant to just leave him behind with a fallen Cloud. If it weren't for Donald and Goofy pulling at our arms, we probably would have turned around to give him a hand. The entire Coliseum was rumbling and quaking from the chaos ensuing outside. However, the lobby was still in one piece, so we took shelter in there while Hercules took care of things out in the arena.

Phil was nervously pacing back and forth. Only for a moment did he stop to wipe away the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Whew, that was way too close!" he exclaimed, tapping his hooves on the ground in anticipation for Hercules's safe return. "That was Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld. He looks tough, but Herc should be able to handle him. Ah... but then again, maybe not... This doesn't look too good. I just hope he'll be okay. Wish I could go in and help out, but I ain't no fighter."

He was obviously worried for the hero, and we were too. There was also the other guy who was still out there. Hercules was surely capable of putting a stop to Cerberus, if only there wasn't a burden weighing him down. Someone had to go in there and give him a hand in case things turned sour. Surely, even the great hero of Olympus Coliseum had his days where he needed a little help.

"W-What are we supposed to do?" Donald mumbled to Goofy, who was just as concerned for the turn of events. "If we don't do something, then this world will really be in trouble."

"Muddling?" Goofy bit down on his fingertips nervously.

"Meddling!" the spellcasting duck corrected. "But, yeah... We can't just rush out there."

To go in and throw in a supporting hand or to stay behind and hope that it ended up okay. We were being split between the two options, and it was proving to be a real pain in the neck. I wasn't sure what I should do. It wasn't a giant Heartless attacking the world, so we'd really be meddling in the affairs of the world. But, on the other hand, the people below Olympus were going to be put in danger if Hercules failed to defeat Cerberus.

I looked to Sora, and he looked to me with his bright eyes. The same flame burning in my golden gaze reflected in his blue orbs. He had the same idea running through his head, I was certain of it. A voice of support beckoned me to the arena's entrance. I looked to Goofy and Donald, but they were still talking to each other over in the corner. Phil was still pacing on the other side of us, so it didn't come from him. Sora? No, not him. He was too busy examining the Keyblade in his hands to be talking to me.

 _This is your chance to become the hero you always wanted_ , it said to me. At first, the voice was hard to hear, but now it was loud and clear. _What are you waiting for? If you don't do something and fast, then more people will get hurt. No one is going to stop you from running out there. The door is wide open._

"The door is... wide open?" I mumbled and turned to face the entrance to the arena. "Right."

Without thinking twice, I stepped closer to the source of all the commotion, only to hear Phil trying to call me back. "Kid, you're not going out there, are ya?" he questioned me. I turned around and saw him and the others standing around with shocked looks on their faces, except for Sora. "This ain't some match. This is for real! It's way too dangerous out there for some girl."

"I..." the words failed in coming out the first time. My throat was dry and the butterflies in my stomach were running out of control. There was no way I could go out there like this. I'd be killed in an instant. But, Hercules was undoubtedly struggling in his fight against Cerberus. He needed someone out there to help him fight. "I'm not afraid. You can decide if I'm hero material or not, but I won't just abandon those two."

"Me neither!" Sora chipped in. "We'll prove to you that we're real heroes by defeating Cerberus."

Our burning spirits brought Donald and Goofy to our side, and we prepared to head out to assist the hero in need.

By the time we got out into the arena, everything was completely destroyed and Hercules was backed into a corner. He was safe, and so was Cloud, but they were in a heap of trouble. They would have been dog food if we hadn't have shown up when we did. "We'll help!" Sora called out. Cerberus lost focus on Hercules in that moment and turned all three heads toward us. Our distraction opened a wide enough door for Hercules to make an escape with Cloud on his shoulder.

"Kids, I got two words of advice for you," Phil called out from the sidelines before retreating back to the lobby. "Attack!"

Fighting the Underworld's guardian dog was definitely nothing easy. He breathed fire and darkness, and both were terribly painful to be hit by. It was hard enough just avoiding the hungry snaps from those toothy jaws of Cerberus's. We gave the battle our all and endured the attacks thrown at us. _Ah ha, I've got an idea_ , I smirked to myself as the guard dog's attention was on Sora and Goofy. They were doing a good job with keeping him busy, which gave me time to enact my master plan.

Using the crumbling stadium as leverage, I leaped from a broken pillar and latched onto the side of Cerberus's leg. It was a little difficult climbing up, but I managed to pull myself onto his back. Fire, Blizzard, Thunder. I named all of the spells I learned and hit Cerberus with every bit of magic I had in me to do some damage.

It wasn't long before Cerberus collapsed to the ground, all three heads included. Our combined attacks proved to be too much for the guardian to handle. The battle was finally over and the Coliseum was saved.

"We did it!" Sora raised his Keyblade in the air.

"As a team," I nodded and followed his victorious gesture with my own. "We beat Cerberus!"

The arena was in ruins but not too badly. Phil reassured us that it would be up and running again for us to compete in the games as a real team, all four of us. But, before then, he called us into the lobby for some special announcement. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I were lined up in front of the satyr and Hercules while the former read off a long scroll. It was long-winded, but it was apparently a means of congratulations.

"Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games." Phil spoke in an authoritative voice, granting us the title of _Junior Heroes_. "Further-"

"Hey!" Donald cut in before Phil could reach the end. "What do you mean _junior heroes_?!"

"You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero," Phil shot back, shutting down Donald's rant.

"So, what does it take?" Goofy asked, curious to know the meaning of a true hero.

Hercules softened his gaze and gave Phil a pat on the shoulder. Folding his arms, the famous hero smiled and said, "Well, that's just something you'll gave to find out for yourselves. Just the way that I did."

Was it a challenge?

Well, regardless if it was or not, we were ready to try again with exposing the hero's potential inside us. Although, I was still quite fond of our current titles. We were still recognized as heroes. Just not in the same category as Hercules. It was going to take some time before we really got to that level, I was sure.

"No problem!" Sora nodded to us and Phil. "We'll start by proving ourselves in the games. So... When do the games start exactly?"

"There ain't going to be any games for a while," Phil shook his head and pointed at the mess being cleaned up outside the lobby. _Oh, right, the arena was destroyed by Cerberus_ , I realized. "We've gotta clean up the mess from that last battle first."

"Well, then we'll be back as soon as it's all done," I rested my hand on Sora's shoulder.

We took our leave from the lobby. The doors were closing behind me, when I heard the two men mumbling about something. Disbelief in our ability to defeat Cerberus from Phil. His words were cut off at the last second, but I could have sworn that I heard Hercules say something about wearing Cerberus down. I shook my head and giggled. If that was the case, then it'd explain why we didn't have too much of a hard time fighting.

A hero's license. I admired the certificate in the palms of my hands. We went through a lot of trouble to get these, and now we really were heroes... sort of. What would Riku think if he heard about this? Knowing him, he'd probably dismiss it as a load of nonsense. If we had a hard time sparring against him, then he probably wouldn't think of us as hero material. I had no doubts about it.

"Huh?" Sora suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Isn't that the guy we fought?"

"It's Cloud," I said out loud, acknowledging the man sitting in front of the exit. He seemed a little down, but it looked like his wounds were finally healed. Still, it was worth checking to see if he was doing alright, so we approached him. "Hey, are you okay?"

Cloud slowly raise his head and glared softly at me and Sora. Compared to when he was fighting them in the prelims, he looked like a really nice guy this time. "Yeah," he said in a soft-spoken tone. "I'll be fine."

"So why did you go along with him, anyway?" Sora asked.

"Hades?" Cloud dropped his gaze to the ground and pressed his lips against the back of his hand. "I'm... looking for someone important. He promised to help me in my search. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it looks like it backfired. Big time. I ended up falling into darkness, and I couldn't find a way back to the light."

"Well, you'll find it," I encouraged him. "Your light, I mean."

Sora nodded in agreement, "We're searching, too."

"For your light?" he wondered, and we confirmed his question with a nod. "Whatever it is you two are looking for, don't lose sight of it. See ya."

Cloud gave us both a pat on the shoulder and in a friendly way, too. Something about the tingle in my arm made me feel encouraged to see him again in the future. I wasn't sure entirely, but Sora may have felt the same. "How about a rematch sometime?" Sora called out to Cloud, who was taking his leave from the Coliseum. "Fair and square, no dark powers involved!"

"I think I'll pass," the swordsman smiled and continued to walk away.

It was a rather happy ending in our adventures through the Olympus Coliseum. We saved the world from Cerberus, rather than the Heartless. Although, those creatures never did cause any major trouble for us. It was kind of strange, because we only fought them during the games. Maybe they weren't too focused on running amok in this world. Either way, it was a good day. 

* * *

_The gates to the Coliseum closed behind the four junior heroes. They took their leave from the world in a fit of joy and made for the next world in their journey to put a stop to the trail of destruction left by the Heartless. But, as soon as they left, an angered figure stepped out into the arena the moment night fell upon the world. Hades had escaped from the turmoil and avoided a direct confrontation with the heroes, especially Hercules._

 _An image of the kind and superb hero played in the god's hands. The smaller variation of the young man flexed his muscles and grinned triumphantly. It was enough to awaken pure rage in the heart of the Underworld's ruler._

 _"He's strong, he's kind," Hades spoke calmly at first. However, that sense of calm was not going to last very long. "He's always there for you, and he's handsome to boot."_

 _Hades took in a deep breath as his blue flames became a deep orange._

 _"He's perfect. Perfect. Perectly infuriating!" he roared, letting his flames explode against the walls of the reconstructed arena. "He drives me crazy... Huff... Huff... Wait a minute. What are you worried about, Hades? All the pieces are in place. Just relax."_

 _The Lord of the Dead took a moment to regain his composure as he paced across the floor. "Here's what you do," he plotted with himself. "Let Herc train those kids. In the next games, I'll take care of them all."_

 _It was a plan that would surely lead to the destruction of the heroes, so he thought. The way he wanted to do it played perfectly in his head. There was no way that it would fail. "Hm?" Hades paused in his fantasy of putting an end to his enemy, noticing a dark presence behind him. He knew himself to be the darkest of the dark around the world, but this one threatened to put him to shame. "Who invited you to the party? Stay out of this, would ya? This is my show."_

 _The horned witch smirked at his response to her arrival. No minion who served under her ruling would ever dare to say such words, though Hades was no servant. She acknowledged him as his own man and paid no mind to the insulting greeting._

 _"I have come to retrieve the girl," the witch stated. Her sinister gaze scanned the arena all over in hopes of spotting the promised prize, but there was no 'girl' to be seen. "Ah... I am ashamed to see nothing of the sort."_

 _"So she slipped through my fingers," Hades hissed. "What about it? I don't see what's so important about the little brat."_

 _"Perhaps you are too caught up in the darkness to see it clearly," she spoke in a low voice, turning her back on Hades. A portal of darkness opened at her beckoning, but she did not yet depart. "That child is an important part in my plans. I expect you to refrain from failing miserably again."_


	24. Supplies & Magic

The day's trip through space turned into an extra long one after leaving the last world, and it was all thanks to that battle with Cerberus. Our supply of potions and ethers was running low. Going to new worlds with only a couple left of each thing was no good. If it ever turned into something like what happened a while ago in the arena, then we'd be in a lot of trouble.

A quick trip back to Traverse Town did us some good, however. We had just enough munny to replenish our supplies and throw in some extra goodies to make sure we'd last in the other worlds. Phil and Hercules sent us away so that they could do some rebuilding for the Coliseum, but they did not send us off empty-handed. Some funds to bring smiles to our faces after being put through so much trouble. _I feel bad for spending so much on just a bunch of potions_ , was what I was thinking to myself after walking out of the shop. So guilty... About 10% remained of our munny funds, and we had a few thousand in our pockets before.

"All of our munny... gone!" Donald sobbed, carrying his share of supplies back to the gummi ship.

"Is it really all that bad?" Goofy scratched the side of his head curiously.

"Of course it is, you big palooka!" shouted Donald. "We're out of munny!"

Sora and I watched the two bicker back and forth with each other, but it was really just Donald telling Goofy about the importance of riches. He wasn't wrong, I thought. Munny, in some ways, made the worlds go round. Not everyone knew how to make potions, including us. However, I had trouble seeing the problem with making more munny. There was that thing with it appearing out of nowhere whenever we beat up some Heartless.

No matter. We were going to get it all back one of these days. That day would be the day when we, hopefully, learned how to better manage our spending. "Think everything will be okay?" Sora asked me, still watching the feud. It was a little amusing to watch them, sort of.

"Yeah," I muttered. "I'm sure he'll get over it one of these days."

"Hey, you guys!"

Before we got to the exit, a little boy who reminded me a little bit of Tidus back home ran up to us. "D-Don't... go..." he said between pants. The boy was flushed in the face and looked panicked about something. "Y-You have to h-help them!"

"This sounds serious," Sora blurted, turning toward the troubled boy. "What's wrong?"

"A couple of the other kids went through those gates earlier, but they haven't come back," the boy explained, pointing to the big gates leading to the Third District. Next to the Second District, it was one of the more dangerous places to be in town. But, I thought all of the Heartless stopped attacking after we beat the Guard Armor. "Please, save them!"

I glanced to Sora, who returned the same concerned look, and then to Donald and Goofy. Those two were finally done with whatever it was they were doing and paying attention to this boy who pleaded for our help. "We better see what we can do," I suggested to the others. "It's not like we're going to be _meddling_ with the world's whatever. The whole town would be guilty of that..."

"I don't know," Donald folded his arms. "We need to go and look for the king."

"And _our_ friends," Sora raised a brow, and he pouted.

"Oh brother," I sighed. "We'll get back to looking for them after this. Let's go and check out the other district."

After a little fuss, everyone turned out to be on the same page. We made our way to the Third District, where the little boy said his friends went, and our investigation began. _Heartless?_ I gasped at the sight of Shadows and Soldiers sneaking around the district. There was only a small number of them, and they were easy to beat. But, it was a concerning discovery. It meant one thing for sure. Our friends in Traverse Town were surely busy keeping the other residents safe from a seemingly constant danger.

The enemies in the district were swiftly taken care of, leaving us with plenty of peace to search around in. "What's this?" A single shoe lying out in the open caught my attention. It was red with white lace and small enough to fit a small child's foot. According to the little boy from before, there were three kids together in the district. One of them wore red shoes like the one I was holding in my hands. The shoe was tattered and shredded in some places. Clearly, it was a sign that they got attacked by something- Heartless, no doubt.

I felt sick to my stomach with there being no signs of their whereabouts. If it was the worst case scenario, then they were...

"Has that door been there this whole time?"

Glancing over to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, I noticed them examining something in the alley. I tossed the shoe to the ground and peeked around them to see a reddish glow at the end. A mysterious door emblazoned with a stylized flame. My hand brushed the flame design. Strangely enough, it was warm to the touch. What are these symbols? I wondered, acknowledging the weird looking symbols around the door frame.

 _Can you feel it?_

"Feel...?" I muttered under my breath. The voice frequently speaking to me in my head. I titled my head to the side slightly, confused by its words.

 _That symbol in the middle of the door. Can't you feel the heat it gives off? It means something. Must have something to do with magic. I can just sense it._

"Magic." The thought never crossed my mind until now. Before we even found this door, it never would have. The voice in my head gave a good point. I did feel something strange about that door, and the warm sensation tingling in my fingers pressed against it proved that there was indeed a magical sense about it. _Warm_. _Flame_. _Magic_. "Could it mean..."

"Huh?" Sora scooted to the side when I backed away from the door. "Is something wrong, Kara?"

Ignoring him, I held my hand out in front of me and channeled my magic power to fire a spell at the door. A small fireball shot out and struck the flame symbol directly; thus, causing for its dim glow to brighten intensely. The wooden door creaked, then it rose up into the wall. It opened. "It worked!" I cheered myself on after successfully opening the door.

"How'd you know to do that?!" Donald quacked.

"I, uh, just took a wild guess," I stated. "Anyway, let's check it out in there."

On the other side of the door was a long tunnel that took us to a dark and damp cavern. The sound of water echoed against the rocky walls. To our surprise, there was a mystical looking house in the middle of the lake of water. And the only way to get to it was by crossing some huge rocks lined up in the water. The gap in between each of them was a little spacious. And, when Sora went to jump onto the first one, it suddenly moved out of the way and made him fall into the water.

"I-I-It moved!" Goofy shuddered.

"The rocks move?!" Donald wailed, hiding behind Goofy.

"Waah!" Sora emerged from the water and got back onto dry land. "It really moved!"

"I guess we have to time it just right," I suggested. In an attempt to actually get on the rock, I jumped ahead of the others. My foot slipped in the end, but I managed to pull myself up. One by one, we made it across to the other side where the house was. It was a little tricky trying to time it with the rocks moving from side to side elusively, but we did it. Without looking around too much outside, we walked through the green blanket acting as the door.

It was empty inside, but it was so interesting to look at. Everything was made of stone. So musty, though...

I giggled softly and leaned against the dusty steps in the middle of the room, "Hey, Sora. Doesn't this remind you of... Huh? Sora?"

* * *

 _"There's something about this must place..."_

 _Sora slowed in his steps around the empty home when a familiar voice tugged at his ear. Jolting around, he gasped as a ghostly girl stepped into the moonlight pouring in from the broken window. Her face was strangely obscured by the light, but he recognized the tone of her voice easily. She stepped closer and only briefly looked at him._

 _His eyes widened as her auburn hair swayed with each step she took around the stone platform._

 _"It reminds me of the secret place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls."_

 _Stopping in front of the window, Kairi turned to him with a kindly smile that warmed his heart. "Do you remember?"_

 _"Kairi?" Sora breathed, reaching out to his friend's hand._

* * *

"Sora?"

The three of us watched him from afar. Worry etched into our expressions. I was really concerned when he turned his head back around and mumbled something. _She's gone!_ What could that have meant? For the most part, he looked like he was doing okay. Just dazed and a little tired looking. I saw nothing that looked like an injury on him, so maybe I was just a tad bit panicked for no reason. Still, I know for sure that he was talking to someone.

But, none of us got the chance to ask him about it. We were all taken by surprise when a shadowy figure stepped out from behind the curtain we had just come from. "Well, well," the person hummed suddenly, giving us a good scare. I jumped back and summoned my Keyblade. The others had their weapons out, too, until defensive hands waved for us to stop. "Hold on, now! I mean you no harm."

The stranger took a step into the light, revealing to us an elderly man dressed in blue robes. He had a heavy bag in one hand and a long wand in the other. So... this man was a wizard.

"My, you've arrived much sooner than expected," he said, adjusting the glasses dipping low on his nose.

"How did you know that we were coming?" Sora asked him.

"Well, of course!" the old wizard chuckled.

"Are you... a Heartless?!" Sora asked another question, now bringing the man to a fit of laughter.

"He doesn't look like one," Donald shook his bill.

"Oh, my. No," the elder settled down. "I'm no Heartless. My name is Merlin. As you can see, I am a sorcerer. I've spent much of my time traveling. Ah, but it is good to be home. Your king has requested my help, you see."

That last part was directed to Donald and Goofy, who looked very surprised to hear the news.

"King Mickey?" Goofy's jaw nearly dropped.

"Yes, indeed," Merlin nodded. "Donald, Goofy... Now, who might you children be?"

The old sorcerer was looking right at me and Sora. His eyes strained to see us in the dark, though he was able to make out our faces after adjusting his glasses. This man certainly was no Heartless. I was fairly sure that those things hadn't the ability to speak so humanly. Not only that, but he would have attacked us immediately if he was one.

"I'm Sora," said my friend.

"My name's Kara," I introduced myself.

With an approving nod, Merlin turned back to Donald and Goofy. His eyes skimmed over the Keyblades in our hands. "I see you have found the key," he said in a low voice. The two goofballs were proud to have been acknowledged. "Although, I never thought I'd see two of them."

"So, what did the king ask you to do?" Donald jumped to the top of the steps so that he was at eye-level with Merlin.

"Just a moment... Presto!" Merlin stepped passed us and set his bag down at the bottom of the stairs. Waving his wand about his head, he used his magic to do something to the bag he was carrying around.

It sparkled and opened by itself a moment later. We were amazed by the tiny items floating out from the inside of the bag, which grew to their original sizes after a little bit. The entire house was eventually decorated with a homely clutter. Books and other documents were piled everywhere. The mustiness did find a way to clear out of the house, too.

"There, now," Merlin sighed contently and rested in his chair. His bony hand motioned for me, Donald, and Sora to approach him. Goofy, however, stayed off to the side for some reason. "King Mickey asked that I train you in the art of magic. I believe you've let them in on some of your own knowledge, Donald. Well, leave the rest to me. We can begin training at any time. Oh, and one more thing..."

Tiny sparkles danced around the room a moment later and homed in on a tiny carriage sitting in the corner. They all merged together, forming a single light that shined radiantly. An elderly woman wearing a lavender robe had dispersed the light, revealing herself to us. She looked so kind with her gentle smile, almost motherly. Grandmotherly, really.

"Hello," she said in a soft-spoken voice. "I'm known as the Fairy Godmother. Your king has asked me to help, too. So, I shall assist you throughout your journey as best I can."

"I do not know how much we can be of help, but do not be afraid to stop by from time to time," Merlin continued. "Perhaps the best I can do is help you enhance your knowledge of magic."

"That sounds great, actually," I giggled.

"Can you teach us more powerful spells?!" Sora chimed in excitedly.

"Mm, a great sorcerer such as myself would be more than willing," Merline smiled, but it faded a second later. "However, it'd be best to let you children grow during this journey of yours. Knowledge of the basics will come at their own time. I will be here to help you develop them into more efficient talents!"

"Oh."

"Say, there is one more thing we could use your help with, though," I straightened my composure, remembering the missing children. "Have you seen some kids around here? I found a shoe in the Third District, but there was no sign of anyone around the area."

"I do recall putting to shame a few of those Heartless," Merlin stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Ah, yes! There were also a few children much younger than you. I sent them home to their parents."

No words could describe the feeling of relief settling in my chest. The kids I thought were done in by the Heartless turned out to be just fine. Knowing that, we would be able to return to the First District with good news. Merlin and the Fairy Godmother were both so kind as to take care of some of our needs. While we were there, we did do a little practice with Merlin to improve the magic that we did know. Well, it was really just me who had the patience to sit through a few lessons. Sora and Donald were not exactly up to doing any 'homework'.

I found it fun learning more about magic from Merlin in spite of the others pressuring me to hurry up. With this, maybe I was a on my way to becoming better at magic than even Donald. I was sure that he would deny it.

"Are you done now?" Donald grumbled. As I came down from the attic of Merlin's house, I noticed him tapping his foot on the ground.

"Oh, what?" I raised a brow. "I'm pretty sure we still have time to look for your king and our friends."

"Grrr..."

"I think Donald's mad." Goofy blinked.

"He's been a grump lately," Sora added.

The three of us laughed, agreeing that the grumpy ole duck was fuming about something. He was urging for us to move on so that we could continue with our journey. Well, we made sure to say our goodbyes to Merlin and the Fairy Godmother. Their help was much appreciated. Soon, we were back on track with our journey to the next world.


	25. Crash Landing

The mood in the gummi ship was turning a little sour since leaving Traverse Town. Without making any stops, we were flying passed the previously visited worlds and straight to whatever else was out there. It was boring more than anything. Although, Donald and Goofy had their time filled with operating the gummi ship.

It was Sora and I who were dying from the boredom of sitting around. We had nothing to do, except for watching the asteroids drifting by. There was also the teams of Heartless ships flying around trying to hit us with lasers and missiles. The usual. Although, it did seem like we were running into more Heartless ships than usual.

"So bored," Sora muttered. I sighed and admired the curtain of reds and blues that appeared over the stars. "Donald... Isn't there anything we can do?"

"No," Donald said shortly.

"Aw, but didn't you say you were gonna show them how to fly the gummi ship?" Feeling sympathetic towards us, Goofy inquired about something with Donald.

My ears perked and I stopped slouching in my chair. _Did I hear that right?_

"Grrr, I don't know what you're talking about," Donald fumed.

He was mumbling and grumbling something to himself, but we were all completely out of the loop. But, clearly, it was just him being annoyed by our desire to better understand flying the gummi ship. Donald did mention something about teaching us how to operate the controls, I was absolutely positive.

I sighed and slumped back in my seat again. _This is a bummer._

At least, that was what was running through my head at the time while the gummi ship weaved through space. Maybe 20 minutes passed by since Donald refused to teach us anything more about the ship. Sometime after that, when I was slipping into a nap in the chair, we abruptly slowed down. My head nearly fell out of the palm of my hand, and I looked around to see what the problem was.

The gummi ship was flying slowly around a giant, green... ball of something rotating in place. I rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes and blinked a few times to adjust my vision to focus. "Hey, that looks like a world," I said, standing up. My arm rested on the top of Goofy's seat as I studied it. _Yeah, that's a world. I don't know how I should feel about it, though._

This world we observed from afar had an abundance of green vegetation. A forest... Jungle, rather, existing in its own unique way. I was kind of amazed by it, because there was nothing but trees. But, judging by the looks of it, it'd be real easy getting lost.

"Hey, Donald, think King Mickey's down there?" Goofy asked, pointing at the world.

"In a backwater place like that?" Donald growled. He was still sounding a little agitated from before. "No way! We're moving on."

"What?" I glared at Donald and folded my arms. "We can't just pass a world by. What if there're people down there getting attacked by the Heartless? Or worse?!"

"Yeah!" Sora nodded in agreement. "Hey, Riku and Kairi might be down there, too. Let's just check it out for a little bit."

"Forget it! We're on an important mission to find the king," Donald yelled at the top of his lungs and moved the ship's controls to turn it around.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

Sora jumped from the back seat to stop Donald; he thrust his hands to the controls and pushed back against Donald's attempts to steer us the other way. The jolt to the handlebars forced the gummi ship back on course for the mysterious jungle. At the same time, all of us inside were knocked to the side and almost lost our bearings.

I was holding onto the Goofy's arm to steady myself and glared harshly at the both of them, "Can we just land this thing before something breaks?"

"Just land!" Sora shouted.

"No!" protested Donald, initiating a brutal argument and struggle for control over where we were to go.

"Come on!"

"Aw, phooey! I said no."

"We're landing!" Sora, finally taking control of the gummi ship's piloting system, put it back on course for the jungle world.

Well, we thought he had taken control...

Donald was yelling at Sora and demanding that he stopped touching the buttons. The ship rocked to the right and then to the left. Clearly, that hardheaded boy who was my best friend had no idea what he was doing. "Uh... Hold on to something!" was the last thing I heard when the gummi ship started spiraling out of control.

Everyone was screaming and latched onto something inside the cockpit. I was gripping onto the seat for dear life, but I could feel my body being torn away from it by the force of gravity. _I can't hold on anymore!_ Gritting my teeth, I struggled to stay grounded. Something struck my chest as we sped down to the world. It hurt and knocked the wind out of me. I lost my grip.

"Waaaah!"

* * *

 _..._

 _..._

 _"Are we lost?"_

 _Three little children- two boys and a girl- huddled together at the base of a tree. The darkness was creeping upon them as the night drew closer. A chilly breeze blowing through the shrubs and trees brought shivers to the shoulders of the trio. In an attempt to warm each other up, they practically glued themselves together for a source of heat._

 _Strange sounds came from somewhere behind the shrubbery of the island. A monster was lurking near their playing grounds, so Sora had claimed. The boy was eager to go out and find it to prove to his friends that it really was there. He was holding onto them tightly, now. His bright blue eyes were clamped shut as he whimpered quietly._

 _"We're not lost!" was what Riku told his friends when they took some path through the forested part of the island. He, more or less, unwittingly took the lead in their adventurous hunt for the 'monster'. Getting lost was not going to be a problem since he was in the lead, thought the two who walked behind him the whole way. He was confident that they were on the right track, too, but he and Sora bickered a bit when the latter tried to take over._

 _Somehow, they took a wrong turn and circled a few sets of trees. Nothing looked familiar to him after that, so he sat down with the others for a breather. A little while later, they tried again and ended up in the same place three times. Riku, annoyed, held onto his friends for a sense of security. "It's getting dark," he said. "Maybe we should camp out and wait until morning before heading back."_

 _With the boys doing what they did best, Kara followed along and enjoyed spending time in the outdoors. It wasn't too much of a big deal that the three of them were lost. They had gotten lost before, on another part of the island. She simply followed along, even when they told her there was a dangerous monster on the island. In fact, hearing that made her giggle excitedly. It was so cold, though. Riku had an arm over her shoulder, she had an arm around him, Sora held onto her other arm, and she held onto his arm, too. They had some warmth since they were together._

 _"At least we have each other," Kara pointed out, her voice a tad bit shaky from the cold. She smiled at her two friends and giggled softly._

 _"Yeah." Riku nodded in agreement. "If we're going to get lost, it might as well be together."_

 _"True," said Sora. He paused but opened his mouth again when something came back to his mind. "Hey... Won't the monster find us if we're out in the open? I don't wanna get eaten. I don't even taste good!"_

 _"I don't think there's a monster out here," Riku stated, looking around them in case something was to pop out from the bushes. All he could hear was the rustling of leaves in the wind. Nothing else. "Besides, I don't think the monster would want to eat you. They like a lot of meat."_

 _"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked, pouting._

 _But, before the two boys could start arguing, Kara stood up and pointed at something through the bushes. "Hey, do you see that?" she asked them. Sora and Riku stood up beside her and stared hard at the bushes. "It's a light."_

 _She was right._

 _There was a small light in the near distance. It got bigger and bigger the longer they stared at it. The three of them felt relief when the light got closer. After wandering aimlessly in the dark, it seemed that the adults caught word of their absence from home._

 _"We're saved!" Sora cheered. "Now we won't be lost."_

 _"Come on, you guys. Let's go home!" Riku motioned for Sora and Kara to follow him._

 _As her two friends ran off ahead of her, Kara walked forward as the terrain blended together. Everything looked the same. The light soon disappeared along with Riku and Sora, leaving Kara alone in the darkness. She stopped and glanced around blankly in hopes of seeing someone familiar._

 _"Sora?"_

 _..._

 _"Riku?"_

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _"Huh? Who are you? I don't remember seeing you before. Can you tell me where the island is?"_

 _..._

 _..._

 ** _"...Wake up..."_**

* * *

Sitting up in the deep green grass, I groaned and rubbed at a throbbing pain in my forehead. All around me were torn and broken vines. I let out another groan and looked up at the tightly packed tree branches above. There was one spot in the middle of the leaves that let in sunlight. That was where I had fallen through, apparently. And, of course, I saw the ripped vines hanging overhead. The fall explained the annoying ache in my back. It was a hard landing.

 _Looks like I ended up alone._ I stood up and looked around for the others. There was no sign of them in the jungle, so they had to have ended up on the other side of the jungle. _I hope they're doing okay._

"Gosh, I was getting a little worried when you didn't get up." Jiminy jumped out from behind one of the vines and climbed up onto my shoulder. He must have been hiding in one of my pockets before we all got thrown out of the gummi ship. It made me happy to have someone with me, even if he was only a few inches tall.

"A little?" I joked, raising a brow at the fancily dressed cricket.

"Guess we'll have to go out and look for everyone else ourselves," he said, pointing in a random direction. "Are you okay to walk?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little sore," I said. It really was no big deal. All there was to fix anything was move around and work out the pain. It was important that we caught up to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Well, wherever those three ended up.

 _Roar!_

I gulped. A howling animal? Of course there was something in this jungle that'd be a problem. What else would there be in a jungle? I just hoped that nothing would come after me or my friends. "So, what world is this, anyway?" I asked Jiminy as I walked down a muddy path through the trees.

"Let's see..." Jiminy took a moment to search through his journal. "Looks like we're in a world called the Deep Jungle. Gee, I wonder why that is."

"I wonder."


	26. A Thing About Gorillas

**~A/N~**

 **Huh. I don't remember doing any other "Author's Note" things these past 20-something chapters. Did I even do a disclaimer? If not, then here it is. I own nothing Kingdom Hearts. All rights belong to Square Enix/Disney. Don't bite me. (. _ .)**

 **Kara: Wait... So, I'm owned by them, too?**

 **Nixie-Poo: What?! No! You are an OC owned by me. So, no one touch this person here. *points at Kara***

 **On with the story? Tell me what you like and why? Be a fangirl/fanboy? Ask questions? Predictions? Yeah! Do any of those things in a review and I'll get back with you in more notes.**

 **And, any errors like typos and other grammatical things will be edited at some point. If they are small and you still understand what is going on, don't mind them. They will get got sooner or later!**

 **Enjoy the fic!**

 **(^ - ^)**

* * *

Walking through the Deep Jungle was like walking through a maze. Every turn I took around some tree led me back to where I was before, so it took some time to figure out which way was the right route to go. It was a good thing that the sun wasn't set just yet. There would be nothing but trouble if I was going to try and find my friends in the dark.

Some of the right turns were thanks to Jiminy and his observant personality. He pointed out particular markings on trees or notable landmarks in the jungle that were the same as before, and so I avoided making the same mistakes from earlier. On occasion, he also goofed up and led me straight into spiderwebs and groups of mosquitoes. I just enjoyed the bugs. No, not really. I despised those things.

"W-Wait a second, Kara!"

"Huh?"

I stopped near the end of a line of trees that opened up into a cliff area when Jiminy started pulling on a couple locks of my hair. "Shh, don't make a sound," he whispered in my ear. But, then I saw what the problem was. It was on the other side of a lightly leafed bush that barely gave us enough cover to hide.

 _Not good_. Hunkering down, I watched a pack of large animals gather together around the spacious cliffs and trees.

The biggest of the gorillas was overlooking them all, and I was afraid that he'd see me hiding around in the bushes if I wasn't careful. Somehow, I had to get me and Jiminy away from there before we became gorilla food. Beasts in the wild were nothing close to friendly, I was sure.

Backing up a few steps, I turned around and found another way to get around the gorilla pack. I ran at full speed as soon as they were far enough back.

"Golly gee," Jiminy plopped down to sit on my shoulder. He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead and sighed in relief now that we escaped danger. I was glad, too, but there was still a lot of walking to do before we found any of the others. "It's a good thing they didn't see us. We'd have been goners if that big gorilla noticed us."

"You don't say?" I sheepishly laughed and shook my head.

Silence.

Compared to Donald and Goofy, it was a little awkward being alone with Jiminy. He was a quiet one, and I was having a hard time figuring out what to chat with him about since we were stuck in the Deep Jungle together. G _uess I should try and start up some small talk_ , I thought. _But what?_

Jiminy did have his own role in the group, so he mentioned a while ago on the gummi ship sometime before we crash landed. Well, understanding a bit more about him may have been a good start. Starting with that journal. "So..." I began, "...I've been wondering for a while now. Uhm, just how much stuff can you put in that tiny journal?"

"Oh, this?" Jiminy perked up and brought out his journal on cue. "Well, since the queen assigned me to be the chronicler of this big journey, I had to have something that'd be able to fit in all the fancy details, ya see. There's nothing much to it. I just write, re-write when it's gotta get done, and so on."

"Sounds like a lot of work," I giggled.

"It sure is!" he sighed. "But, I've gotten used to keeping track of everything. It's not too bad especially when I have four heroes keeping me safe."

"We're glad to be of help." Nodding, I gave Jiminy a kind smile and pushed on through the thicket of bamboo. The long adventure through the jungle came to a brief halt when we came upon another clearing. However, in this one, there were no mean looking gorillas. I stepped along quietly to the boulder sitting in the middle of the clearing and let out a sigh. "No luck..."

"Don't you worry, Kara," Jiminy patted my cheek. "Those are some tough boys. Why, I'm sure the three of them are together now. They must be looking for you and me as we speak!"

"Think so?" I asked him.

"Positive!" Jiminy nodded his head, tipping his hat forward for extra assurance.

I still wasn't too sure if they were all together, but I agreed that they were looking for us. Wherever those guys ended up, we would be back together again to search for the king, Riku, and Kairi. Hopefully, I'd run into them in the same day.

* * *

 _"A campsite?" Sora looked around curiously at all the clutter. Boxes were stacked on top of each other all over the place. In the middle of it all was a British flag tied to a pole, which was simply a lone bamboo tree rising from the ground. "Uh, Tarzan? Are my friends really here?"_

 _Slowly passing a peculiar drawing on a chalk board was a man hunched over on his knuckles and feet. He stared at the boy with serious eyes but remained silent. The man wore only a loin cloth and wielded a spear to ward off hostile creatures throughout the jungle. Motioning Sora onward with a nudge of the head, Tarzan led the boy into a tent on the other side of the camp._

 _Tarzan's blue eyes brightened when he saw a woman fiddling with an old contraption. "Jane!" he called out to her in broken English. The sudden appearance startled the woman, and she twirled away from what appeared to be a camera and faced the two._

 _"Tarzan!" Jane exclaimed, but her head tilted to the side upon seeing the Keyblade Wielder behind Tarzan. "Oh, and who might this young man be?"_

 _"Uh, hi there," Sora nervously waved to her. "I'm-"_

 _"Oh, so you speak English, too!" Rudely interrupting him, Jane excitedly mused over his manner of speech. The kind and friendly expression she initially wore twisted into one of pure curiosity and study. Her eyes examined Sora closely, then focused on Tarzan to compare the pair of males. "So, then... You're obviously not related to Tarzan. I wonder. Are you here to study the gorillas?"_

 _But, before Sora had the chance to utter a word, there was a loud scoff from outside the tent. A familiar noise to the ears of Tarzan and Jane, and they were not very surprised when a tall man stepped inside the tent. They were, however, cautious toward him. The shotgun in his hands was fully loaded, as it always would have been in his possession. He looked ready to hunt._

 _"I highly doubt that this..." the man paused a moment to look at Sora, "little boy has anything to do with studying game."_

 _"Sora!"_

 _Breaking the Keyblade master out of his trance was the sound of Goofy's jolly voice. His eyes widened and spotted the shield knight behind the hunter, and Donald was also there to greet him with a happy face._

 _"Goofy! Donald!"_

 _The three of them rejoiced as they reunited after hours of separation. But, when Sora and Donald locked their hands together gleefully, they suddenly stopped celebrating and pulled away from each other. Goofy, being the only one present who had knowledge of their previous squabbling on the gummi ship, dropped his shoulders when the two recalled the argument._

 _Having been watching the whole time, the hunter rolled his eyes and lowered his gun to his side. He was hardly impressed by their change of behavior._

 _"A circus of clowns," he insulted them before turning his back. "Not much use for hunting gorillas."_

 _"Mr. Clayton!" Jane huffed as he stepped outside. She didn't care if he ignored her. "We are not here to hunt the gorillas. We are studying them. This is research!"_

 _It was a futile attempt at getting her message across, but she brushed it off and turned back to the guests who had just arrived. "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home."_

 _Sora and Donald were still crossed with one another. But, in spite of the pouting and glaring, they were glad to be offered a place in the camp._

 _"Well, anyway..."_

 _"I'm staying!" Sora and Donald said in unison._

 _"Huh?" Sora was flabbergasted at Donald's response. The duck was entirely against visiting the Deep Jungle before they even had a chance to see what it was like. What had changed? He could only wonder as Goofy pulled something out of his pocket._

 _"Sora, look what we found," Goofy said, revealing a messy block to the teen boy. "Look at this."_

 _"What's that?" Sora stared at the object. It was covered in a strange, brown substance, and it stunk._

 _"A gummi block. It's the same stuff used to build our ship," Goofy explained._

 _"So, doesn't that mean..."_

 _"The king could be here," Donald narrowed his eyes and growled to himself. "So, we've gotta work together to look for him. For now!"_

 _"I still need to find my friends, and Kara, too," Sora returned the cold glare. "I'll let you tag along. For now!"_

 _"But, what about Jiminy?" Goofy quietly asked, but neither had heard him._

 _"Oh, you're leaving so soon?" Jane asked the boys, who were on their way to exiting the tent. She seemed a little disappointed about it, much to their dismay. It was a complication due to their status as outsiders._

 _The trio looked to one another for something to say, but then something popped into Sora's head. No need to beat around the truth, he thought. "Well, there's someone who got separated from us," he said. "We'll come right back as soon as we've found her. She can help, too!"_

* * *

 _Not good. Not good. Not good. Not good._

I gritted my teeth and tried to pull myself back up onto the tree I was climbing, but my strength was running out. All I was able to do was hang on and hope that nothing bad would happen again. "Could... this get any worse?" I groaned and made another effort to get back up.

"Er, I hope you don't mind a few hungry hippos." Jiminy popped his head out of my pocket, his finger pointing down into a foggy lagoon.

Inside the fog, my eyes were barely able to make out something big moving underneath the misty cover. It just got worse... There were three hippos moving into the water below, and they seemed to have an idea that I was about to fall in. _Please don't fall_ , I pleaded with myself. My grip tightened around the thick tree branch. Staying like that would have been okay, if the branch didn't start to crack. My eyes widened at the sight of the splintering wood. _No, no, no. Please don't break!_

 _Snap!_

"AAAAAAGHHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. The broken branch followed me down as I fell into the lagoon.

One of the angry looking hippos let out a growl and opened its mouth wide in an aggressive attempt to "catch" me. I clamped my eyes shut and prepared for the worst, but my leg was snagged by something flying through the air. The grip around my ankle was tight and prevented me from falling any further, but the hippos still tried to attack when I swung by overhead.

"Ow!" I whined when my mysterious hero dropped me down onto solid ground, where a pesky rock jabbed at my lower back.

Shaking my head, I gradually regained my senses and looked around for the culprit who landed me on a bad spot. There was no one, save for a man wearing only a cloth around his... _Oh_. I blushed and scooted back on my bottom to get away from the man. He was on all fours and staring right at me from a hanging vine.

"Who are you?!" I glared, summoning my Keyblade defensively.

"Kara!"

"Oh boy, you're alright! And Jiminy, too!"

I was taken by surprise when two bodies slammed into the side of me, knocking away my Keyblade and nearly throwing me into the murky water of the lagoon. Jiminy jumped out from under the dog pile and embraced them happily. "Goofy?" I blinked, sitting up to hug him. "Sora? And, you too, Donald?"

"I'm glad we found you," Sora grinned. "It was all thanks to Tarzan. He gave us a hand."

"Tarzan...?" I raised a brow and turned to the man who saved me from falling. "W-Well, thanks. I guess."

"Let's head back to the camp, it's getting dark." Donald suggested, dismissing our reunion.

They led the way to the camp where they were staying. It was a secure little area with lots of packaging all over the place. Drawers and suitcases, science experiments. I spun the dusty globe next to the camping tent as I passed it by.

"We're back," Sora announced to a barefoot woman messing with some books in the corner.

"Ah, welcome back," she greeted us, moving away from the mess of papers. Jane was her name, and the man sitting outside at the dining table was Clayton. Neither of them were officially residents of the jungle, just stranded. However, Jane claimed that it was no problem, because she was out in the jungle doing research on gorillas. "Apparently Tarzan was raised in this jungle by the gorillas. So, communicating with him is still difficult, but he is learning. Slowly."

"Back then, it sounded like he was talking like a monkey," Sora said, bringing up the time when he ended up in another part of the jungle.

"Ha, so he was speaking in gorilla language," I laughed a little. "Maybe we'll learn how to do that, too."

"Ah, that's right," Jane popped up, turning back to us. "Sora, you said you were looking for your friends, correct?"

"Tarzan said Riku and Kairi are here," Sora explained. "Then there was one word I couldn't understand. I think it was in gorilla."

"R-Riku and Kairi? Really?" I gasped.

"How about this?" the gorilla researcher pointed to the old projector sitting in the middle of the tent. "If I can just figure out where I put my slides... We'd be able to show Tarzan a few slides and see if any of them match the word he said to you."

"Slides, huh?" Donald folded his arms. "Goofy, didn't you pick something up from outside?"

"You mean this?" Goofy scratched his head, pulling out a gross looking block.

"No! The other thing!"

After a brief little thrashing from Donald, Goofy put away the block and showed us six objects that were about the size of a playing card. They were slides and looked like they would fit in the projector.

It made the search a whole lot easier, so we handed them over to Jane so that she could operate the device for us. And while she played the slideshow, everyone sat back and watched the images appearing on the stretched out sheet being held by a few poles. The first image to show was a magnificent castle surrounded by tall pines.

"..."

I heard a sad sigh and glanced over to Sora. He was focused on the image. A tear? Was he crying?

The sadness in his face was so apparent, it made me worry a little for him. "What's wrong?" I asked him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You look a little down."

"You okay?" Goofy asked, too, having also noticed it.

"What?" Sora jumped from my touch and wiped at his face. "Um... It's nothing. I'm fine."

While the slideshow continued, I scooted a little closer to Sora and asked him again, "Is everything alright?"

He was quiet for a moment but moved in to whisper into my ear. "I don't know why, but that place... It just looks so familiar to me."

"But how?" I asked him in a hushed voice. "We've never been off the island before the storm."

"I don't know, but I'm getting a strange feeling..." Sora folded his arms and leaned back to watch the rest.

I did the same and looked on as Tarzan studied the slides- a man proposing to a woman with flowers, a grandmother picking up her grandchild, a gorilla, a ship in stormy waters, and a pair of fencers dueling.

After about twenty minutes went by, the slideshow ended and Jane shut off the projector for it to cool down. "Well, Tarzan?" she asked the man who was raised by apes. "Were you able to understand?"

Sora and I stepped a little closer to Tarzan with expectant eyes.

"Where are our friends, Riku and Kairi?" Sora asked him. In spite of being shown several slides, Tarzan shook his head and left us without any answers. "Hey, but you said that they were-"

"Young man, I suppose you understand now." Clayton entered the tent with his polished gun over his shoulder. He was smirking and stroking the thin whiskers on his upper lip. "Clearly, there is only one place where your friends could be. We've been wandering through this jungle for some time now, and we've yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas. But, _Tarzan_ refuses to take us to them."

"Really, Mr. Clayton." Jane put her hands on her hips. "Tarzan wouldn't hide-"

"Then take us there!" Clayton cut in, storming towards Tarzan. "Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las!"

We were taken back by Clayton's forcefulness, but we were eager to find Riku and Kairi. The two locked gazes, Sora and Tarzan. And they didn't look away until Tarzan gave the nod. Although we were surprised by his decision, he seemed to have made up his mind.

"Tarzan... are you sure?" Jane asked.

"Tarzan go see Kerchak," the ape man said, turning to Jane.

"The leader of the gorillas, I assume," Clayton smirked. " _Perfect_... Why don't I go along as an escort? It'd be awful if these children were to be attacked by a jaguar, or something much worse."

I only frowned.

There was something sinister about that man, and it gave me a very bad feeling. But we weren't leaving for the gorillas right away. In the morning, we would be making our way for the nesting grounds. Tarzan said that they were a little far, so everyone would need a night's rest. Thanks to Jane, we also had a warm meal to keep us warm during the cold night.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I spent the night in hammocks outside under the stars. Clayton and Tarzan were keeping watch over the camp while we slept. So, we felt pretty safe that night and rested for as long as we possibly could.

...

 _"Soon, the darkness shall sweep across this world."_


	27. Monkey Madness

The next morning, Tarzan brought our group to the nesting grounds of the gorillas he was raised with. Clayton hung around in the back and put some distance between himself and us. Not that we minded.

It would have been just fine if we only had Tarzan around. I had no idea what this guy had in mind. We lost track of the guy when Tarzan taught us how to avoid getting attacked by the hippos while jumping across their backs, but it was possible that he went back to camp to check in on Jane. Hopefully that was why he was gone.

Eventually, after crossing the hippos and the lagoon, Tarzan led us into the trees for some vine swinging. It was the only way to reach the gorillas' nesting area without taking too long.

On my first try, I swung all the way over to a far away tree, but the vine broke when I hung onto it for too long. I was just glad that I flew off to where I needed to be. Donald nearly lost it, though. Twice, he had to be saved by either Sora or Tarzan before he fell back into the lagoon.

It wasn't too long before we ended up standing before a menacing looking gorilla and his mate. Tarzan, through broken English, conversed with the gorillas as we stood behind him.

* * *

 _"Kerchak, please listen to me."_

 _Tarzan furrowed his brows at the pack leader, who glared coldly at the human children standing behind the gorilla-raised man._

 _"I know that bringing outsiders here is forbidden," Tarzan continued, whether or not Kerchak listened. "The nesting grounds are secret, but I... I trust them. You see, I want to help them because... because... Well, they need us."_

 _Following the silence that came after Tarzan's words, Kerchak's mate- Kala- turned her head to the alpha. The two exchanged words in the gorilla tongue as the ape crowd shrunk in numbers._

 _"Did you get that?" Goofy whispered to Donald._

 _"No." Donald had replied shortly, then instructed his companion to listen in spite of none of them understanding the conversation._

 _Something discouraging bubbled in Tarzan's chest as he waited for a response, which never did come. "Kerchak." His voice was stern and pressed for something in return. However, Kerchak let out a distasteful grunt and turned his head the other way. His brown eyes were focused on something else, as were his ears. Tarzan's shoulders fell slightly when both gorillas walked away from the scene. "Kerchak..."_

* * *

I was left scratching my head after the gorillas left. That whole time, they were speaking in some kind of other language, and we got nothing out of it. But, I couldn't help but notice that the one named Kerchak seemed distracted. What could it have been?

"Think he was distracted by somethin'?" Goofy asked in a quiet voice, seemingly having the same thoughts as me.

"You're right," Donald nodded.

"Was he looking toward the tree house?" Sora wondered. "It's not too far away from here."

"He might've been." I took a step forward. _Wait a second... Wasn't Clayton supposed to catch up with us a little while ago?_ The man was still absent, and that made me worry a little bit. He was a hunter and had an obsessed fascination with the gorillas, so I learned not too long ago. Most of anything he talked about was the rarity of the species and some other kind of blabber. "I think we better take a look."

"Tarzan, can you take us to the tree house?" Sora asked our jungle guide.

"...Tarzan go." He nodded his head and leaped into the vines. Skillfully, he swung from one to the other and motioned for us to follow him.

We had our struggles with the vine swinging, again. But, we pressed forward and made it to the climbing trees for a quick ascension to where the tree house was.

It didn't take us long to reach the tree house, and thank goodness we made it in time. Through the broken window that we walked around, I could see the silver barrel of a gun aimed at something inside the torn up tree house. It was undoubtedly Clayton's shotgun.

"Wak!" Donald let out a sharp quack and dashed ahead of us. When he got to the hunter, he let out the loudest shriek that we ever did hear. "Nooo!"

I sped up my pace when I heard the firing of the gun, but it was relieving to know that it missed its target. _Wha- Is that a gorilla?!_ I spotted the small ape fleeing to Kerchak's side. The situation was painfully obvious to have been set up intentionally. Clayton had been naughty and went behind our backs to shoot the gorilla. _I should have figured that he'd try something like this._

"What's the big idea?!" Donald interrogated Clayton, who was still in shock.

The four of us kept a careful eye on him from that point on while Tarzan went to speak with the gorilla. Their talk didn't seem to go so well, though. They left moments later, but the smaller one looked a little sad going. Strangely enough, Donald seemed to have mutual feelings.

How bad everything turned out was Clayton's fault. Everyone came to the conclusion at the same time, and we all glared at the pitiful hunter.

"H-Huh?" Clayton chuckled nervously. "You don't understand! I was only trying to... Ah. A snake was slithering by, you see! I saved that poor gorilla's life."

Tarzan shook his head in disappointment.

I folded my arms across my chest and sighed, "Save your excuses."

"We'd better head back to camp before it gets too late," Sora suggested, pointing at the afternoon sun. So, we made our way back to the campsite. Clayton was in the middle of the group this time. He was not about to pull another fast one on us. Not for a second time.

* * *

Later that night, when everyone was gathered together in the main tent for a little talk, word got out about Clayton's scheming adventures back when we went to go see the gorillas. I was a little fearful for the man when I saw the look on Jane's face.

Steam was rising from her head because of how angry she was.

"How could you do such a thing?" she stabbed at Clayton's shoulder with her finger. "Have you completely lost your mind, Mr. Clayton?!"

"Now, Miss Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla." Clayton held his hands up defensively in an attempt to excuse himself from her rage. It was back to the excuses for him, clearly. So, getting caught meant nothing to the guy. "There was a snake-"

"You are not to go near the gorillas again!" Jane cut him off.

"All because of one mishap? Come now..." He chuckled and waved it off, but froze when our glares pierced him. Donald and Goofy were witnesses to his poorly planned action. As were Sora and I. And, Tarzan, revealed to us that the little gorilla was his friend. The two spoke to each other all the time, so he knew very well that Clayton was in the wrong here. "Ah ha... I will take my leave."

Clayton stepped out of the tent in defeat, but I could see the anger in his eyes. I blinked a couple of times as the tent flap fell back down behind him. _What's this weird feeling?_ My brows knitted together. Uneasiness. That was the feeling I got when Clayton left.

Everyone was calming down from the explosive argument, until Clayton's loud voice broke in from outside. He was yelling about something, probably his exposed plans. I couldn't help but eavesdrop on what else he had to say about it, but I lost sight of him in the cover of the shadows.

 _"What am I doing with these imbeciles? Blasted gorillas! I'll hunt down every last one of them! I'll track them down somehow. I'll stake my life on it."_

I sighed and joined the others around the kettle. There was no way to do something about that attitude of his. But, to put his own life on the line to hunt a gorilla. It didn't seem all that worth it.

"Think we could talk to him?" Sora asked. "I'm not sure, but..."

There was a lot going through our minds about Clayton and the gorillas. But, our talk was cut short when gunshots rang out through the air, catching us all off guard.

I jumped to my feet and dropped my bowl of soup, and so did the others.

"O-Oh, my," Jane gasped. She calmed down and mumbled something else. "Mr. Clayton... I hope he's alright. He's not a bad person- just a bit impetuous."

"We'd better make sure he's okay." Sora sighed and grabbed a lantern from the table for a source of light. Of course, there were plenty of torches outside for us to see where to go. "Come on, you guys!"

Following Sora's lead, we exited the tent to see what the problem was outside, save for Jane. There was no sign of Clayton, but we found something out there. I could see their beady eyes in the darkness. "Heartless!" I announced to the others, pointing out the monkey-like monsters surrounding something over by the clothesline.

With Tarzan's help in the matter, we took out all of the Heartless in the camp. They were attacking a poor gorilla that got separated from its pack.

"What are those creatures?" Jane asked, emerging from the safety of the tent. "Could it be a new breed of monkeys?"

"What?" Donald shook his head. "No! Well... Those monsters are... Uh... Goofy?"

"I dunno, Donald," Goofy scratched his head.

"They're a dangerous... breed!" I butted in, sparing Donald of the spotlight. "It's better that you stay inside, though. We'll take care of them."

Jane nodded her head, "Very well. Please, you must protect the gorillas. I'm afraid they might be in danger."

We somehow got her to go back inside, just as more of the monkey Heartless came into camp. _Powerwild_ , was the name they were dubbed with. These new Heartless were a little tougher than the usual Soldier or Shadow. It took a little more effort to combat their wild demeanor, but we did beat them.

"Geez, those things are strong," Sora said, gritting his teeth as he took down one of the last enemies. "Is it alright to leave things as they are here?"

"Jane. Not safe!" Tarzan looked to the tent where Jane was.

"He's right," I breathed. "If we go and save the gorillas, then no one will be here to protect Jane and the camp. Someone should stay behind."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"That is true..." Sora admitted, finally.

"Ugh, I'll stay behind, then." I rolled my eyes. Other than Tarzan, who was very concerned, no one seemed to want to stick around the camp. Of course, Jiminy did keep himself hidden in my pocket for the night. A little shuteye, he said it was for. It might have been to excuse himself from venturing into the jungle at night, though. Not that I minded. A little company was nice. _Stay safe out there, you guys_ , I thought to myself as the others ran off for the gorillas being attacked by Heartless.


	28. Something Shady is Going On

**~A/N~**

 **Got some news for y'all!**

 **Next week, I'll be going on a hiatus, possibly a long one. It might just be for a few months, maybe for a year and a half. We'll see what happens! But, in that time, I won't be able to do anything with this fic. What stinks is, I'm stacked with back to back meetings and doctor appointments all this week, so updates are forever sloooooow. (; u ;)**

 **Don't worry, though. Whenever I get back, I'll be working hard to finish this fic and all the fics that follow it!**

* * *

 _"Whew... That's the last one." Sora wiped away at the sweat on his forehead and let out a sigh of relief. The last of the Heartless in and around the tree house were taken care of; thus, the putting a brief end to the Heartless hunt. He turned to Donald and Goofy, who were being approached by the gorilla. "Huh? Is that another one?"_

 _The gorilla, like several of the others that they saved in the jungle, handed a dirtied cube. It had an awful smell to it, much like the first one they received, but it was what they were hoping to get._

 _"Another gummi block," Donald stated, dropping the block into Goofy's handy pouch of items. "But, why?"_

 _"King Mickey must'a-"_

 _A loud thwack to Goofy's knee made him yelp loudly. Donald growled lowly and shook his head. "The king wouldn't just give these things up!" he angrily quacked and tapped his foot. "You blockhead."_

 _Yawning, the trio joined Tarzan outside. The man raised by apes was staring out into the darkness that loomed. Thunder rumbled in the distance, giving the signal that a dangerous storm was quickly headed their way._

 _"Danger... coming." The words escaped from the prison of Tarzan's lips as his blue eyes narrowed._

 _"There's still more gorillas needing help?" Sora wondered out loud. There was no telling where they might be with the Heartless running loose through the jungle. So far, there were very few places to hide in safety. "Think the others will be okay?"_

 _"Yup!" Goofy nodded vigorously and confidently. "I just know Kara's taking care of things. She's a tough cookie, after all."_

 _"Bah, don't get distracted," Donald grumbled, which was something he had been doing ever since they reunited. Although Sora was mostly over it, he couldn't help but glare back at Donald for the remark. Wasn't he worried for a good reason? The Keyblade master certainly thought so._

 _And, heading down through the jungle, Sora's mind only wandered back to his friends out there. Hopefully, they'd all be just fine when they got back together._

* * *

I let out a roar as I smashed my Keyblade into yet another Heartless. But, with the defeat of one, several more took its place and made an attempt at getting inside the tent. Those sneaky monkeys went noticed and were promptly taken care of. And, when things calmed down after a while, I took a moment to have a little breather.

The routine of fighting waves of Heartless had gone on for a while now, maybe over an hour. It was becoming a lot easier defeating the Powerwilds, and I barely had a scratch on me after taking them on. But, of course, I was no robot. I was aching all over.

"Phew," I sighed, and I leaned back against the giant crate behind me. The Heartless were still very near, I could feel their hideous presence. But, judging by how far off the darkness was, I was sure I had a little time to rest. It wasn't easy trying to feel at ease with the thunder rumbling overhead. Sprinkling rain and occasional flashes of lightning. To top it off, it was still dark. Only one thought bounced around in my head at that moment. "...I hate this..."

 _Rustle, rustle, rustle..._

The sound was of rustling leaves from the nearby bushes. Whatever was behind there was not careful. It alerted me, and my ears perked at the clumsy noise-making.

"Is it..." I straightened up and peered into the darkness in hopes of spotting the yellow eyes of the Heartless. There was nothing, however. The rustling eventually stopped, and I sensed no danger coming. So, maybe we were safe for the time. "Huh. I guess it was nothing."

"Ooh! Ooh! AAAAHHHH!"

The moment lightning crackled in the distance, a small creature sprung out from the bushes and made a mad dash through the camp. Its loud shrieks made me jump, and I was nearly knocked over by its shoulder. "Waah!" I yelped, diving out of the way. "A-A gorilla?!"

I got up to my knees and watched as the poor thing rushed into the tent with Jane. She screamed, too, and there was a thud. But, when I went to go and check on her, the little gorilla was trembling in her arms.

"It's alright," Jane comforted the gorilla sweetly. She looked up to me as the thunderstorm tore through camp. "Something startled it. But... what?"

"...I don't know." I shook my head, slicking my soaked hair back. A couple strands hung over my forehead when I turned around to investigate the sudden intrusion. The tent's entrance closed behind me as I stepped out into the middle of camp. "Sora?"

No answer.

"Donald?"

No answer again.

I swallowed a lump in my throat and slowly held up my Keyblade. "Goof-"

"Fool, isn't it obvious that your friends are not here?" From out of nowhere, the hunter emerged from the darkness and stood beside one of the lit torches, which was losing strength from the rain. Clayton was frowning, from what I could tell, and his eyes were coldly glaring at me. There was a glint of something in his hands- his shotgun. "Tell me, little girl, where that gorilla ran off to."

"Don't know," I lied, keeping my eyes on the gun.

"Oh?" Clayton raised a brow and took a step forward. Several pairs of yellow eyes were behind him, staring in my direction. "I suppose I might have a look around the camp myself. Ms. Potter won't mind, I'm sure."

With the nudge of his head, Clayton sent the large number of Heartless to surround me. I clenched my teeth and prepared to defend myself against them. "Foolish girl," he chuckled. "My expertise lies in hunting. I live and breathe to find the most precious beast! A child such as yourself could never keep me from them... Ah, these creatures do well in leading me to my targets, I must say."

"They aren't your tools!" I spat back at Clayton but took a step back when one of the Powerwilds lashed out at me.

He ignored me and moved to the tent where Jane and the gorilla were hiding. Casting a couple Thunder spells and swatting at the Heartless with my Keyblade, I broke out of the ring of enemies and chased after Clayton before he could get to them.

"Stop!" I shouted, but something heavy shoved me to the ground.

As I struggled under the weight pressing down on my back, I could hear Jane screaming inside the tent. Clayton stepped back out with her and the gorilla over his shoulders. "Hm, a feisty one, you are." Clayton's already narrow eyes became dark and sinister. He looked up at something- the thing weighing me down. "Listen well, beast. Hold onto that child and search for the rest of the gorillas. Tarzan and the rest of them will return soon. Might as well give them what they want. Go. Now."

My vision blurred as the monster holding me squeezed my body, but I was able to get a good look at the emblem on its chest before blacking out.

 _You... Heartless..._

* * *

 _"Finally, we're back!" Sora yawned and stretched his arms. Early dawn was breaking when the group saved the gorillas from the Heartless, and they were eager to rest for some time._

 _They were all sluggish and exhausted from the dreadful adventure through the jungle, except for Tarzan. Much to their surprise, he was still full of energy and... sniffing around the camp like an animal. His behavior was confusing, especially when he darted for the tent in a hurry._

 _"What's bugging him?" Donald folded his arms and followed the others inside._

 _"No clue," Sora responded, entering the tent. "Huh? Jane and Kara aren't here. Tarzan? Is something wrong?"_

 _He was antsy, Tarzan was. The ape man anxiously searched around the tent for signs of the girls' whereabouts, but he stopped abruptly and sniffed the air._

 _"Something coming," Tarzan said in a low voice. "Jane, danger. Jane near... Near tree house."_

 _"We'd better get going, then!" Goofy grabbed his shield with renewed strength._

 _"Make it snappy," Donald exclaimed, whipping out his staff. "We have to hurry and find the king!"_

 _"And my friends!" Sora pouted, leading the way out of the tent._

 _The first order of business was finding Jane and Kara around where the tree house was. There were plenty of Heartless to stand in their way, but they had a fairly easy time getting to their destination._

 _It was mid-morning when they arrived at the climbing trees, but the darkness was so prevalent in the area. The rain had lightened up, and the clouds were already beginning to part, so why was the area so... cold?_

 _Perhaps, the best answer they had to this particular question was the purplish miasma spreading through the trees. The flow originated from a mysterious and large fruit protruding from a single tree in the middle of the area, and teams of Heartless spawned throughout the place._

 _"Tarzan!" shouted Jane, who they were relieved to see._

 _"Jane," Tarzan called back, spotting the woman and his gorilla friend. They were both trapped behind vines possessed by the darkness, but he was on his way to save them._

 _Sora, Donald, and Goofy assisted in the matter and fought hard against the Heartless. Efforts made to extinguish the threat, however, was ineffective since they continued to appear after two or three were beat._

 _"I'm going after the fruit!" Sora called back to the others, and he weaved through the crowd of Heartless to cut down the pear-shaped fruit. It took a fairly large number of swings to take it down. But, he managed, and it released a burst of gas as soon as it hit the ground._

 _Although alarming at first, the team was relieved to see the darkness receding. And so, everyone freed Jane and the gorilla from their prison._

 _"We're glad you're safe!" Sora told the researcher. "Can you tell us what happened?"_

 _Still holding onto the gorilla, Jane nodded her head as her fear faded. "Clayton came to the tent, all of a sudden. And, then... Well, that's all that I seem to remember. I must have fainted," she explained. "Oh, and I bumped into this little one before then."_

 _"Terk," Tarzan ruffled the fuzz of fur on the gorilla's head, comforting the young ape._

 _It was a moment of rejoicing, but Sora was quick to become concerned when he noticed the absence of one of their own. She was supposed to be there, too, he thought. His best friend was supposed to be protecting Jane, but she was nowhere to be seen._

 _"Hey, Jane," Sora glanced around once more, just in case. "Did something happen to Kara?"_

 _"Why... I can't seem to recall her ever being thrown in here with us," she said. "Do you think that Clayton might have...?"_

 _"Come on, we have to go now!" Sora, fearing for the worst, turned and ran back to camp._

 _He had no idea where he was running to, but Tarzan acted as a guide to locate the hunter. If anyone knew where to go, it was Tarzan. While Jane and Terk returned to the camp for shelter, the rest of them made way for the gorillas nesting grounds in the cliffs. Surely that was where Clayton would be, but they were intent on stopping him before anything horrible happened._


	29. Have a Heart

**~A/N~**

 **Possibly one last chapter for you guys before I get going tomorrow, hopefully I can bust out one or two more before then. So glad I had the time to write out something to close the Deep Jungle. With that hiatus, it'll officially start tomorrow! The story is not discontinued or anything, I'm simply at that busiest point in my life where I can't spend time working on anything. I'd never want to give up on this fic, anyway, lol. There's going to be a lot of amazing stuff in the future...**

 **But, when I get back, I'll do a bunch of chapters! \ o /**

* * *

I groaned and rubbed the back of my head when the chameleon Heartless dropped me onto a pile of rocks. After being carrying me all over the jungle, it finally let me go. Why did it take me? And, what happened to Jane and that little gorilla?

Clayton was ordering the Heartless around, that much I was aware of. But to think that he could control something as big as that chameleon. It had to be the darkness in him. Then, if his heart was under the influence of the darkness, he'd eventually succumb to it and become one of... those things. I was sickened by the thought, but he sort of deserved it.

Getting up to my feet, I watched as the chameleon darted from corner to corner around the cliffs. It hunted down whatever it was that it had been looking for. No, actually, the Heartless wasn't just looking for _something_.

Gorillas rushed out from all over, wherever that monster lurked. The Heartless was rounding up a whole bunch of gorillas, and it scared them into a secluded spot where they couldn't escape. I watched it all unfold from atop a cliff ledge. From up there, I spotted Kerchak, the pack leader, and his mate. But he was separated from her by Powerwild Heartless.

"Alright... I guess I need to get down there and do something." I wasn't the most eager to jump in. Heartless were hostile, and the wild gorillas were awfully hostile, too. But, if I could outrun them... "Oh, whatever. Hopefully Tarzan will show up if they start chasing me around."

I hopped up to my feet and brought out my Keyblade to fight.

"Here goes nothing!" I exclaimed, jumping down from level to level. Landing in front of the seemingly helpless pack of gorillas, I stood my ground against the greater enemy.

There was only so much I could do with protecting the gorillas and fighting off the Heartless, but I was doing reasonably good without anything there to help me. They were being staved off to the point where most of the gorillas could crowd together behind me, except for Kerchak. He was off on his own, tossing the Heartless away and out of sight.

 _Bang! Bang!_

Gunshots rang out in the middle of our fighting, causing the Powerwilds to bolt for cover. I ducked my head when one of the bullets whizzed overhead. I jumped back and looked to the direction of the bamboo thicket.

There was Clayton, walking toward us so nonchalantly with a group of Heartless around him. "Ah, so you thought you could save the gorillas by your lonesome," he chuckled shortly and frowned. Aiming his shotgun at one of the gorillas, Kerchak's partner, he prepared to let loose more bullets. "What a shame."

I gritted my teeth and jumped in front of the gorilla with my weapon out in front of me in hopes of protecting her, but his finger was already in the process of pulling the trigger.

"No!"

Exploding from the other side of the cliff area was Sora's voice, which put a stop to Clayton's quiet rampage. I let out a sigh of relief and saw my friend running this way. Donald and Goofy were right behind him, and Tarzan, too. Their interruption bought enough time for the gorillas to escape, and I was so glad they did. As soon as they were all gone, I joined Sora's side to confront the hunter, who looked very displeased with his prey running away.

"Clayton?" Sora stepped forward. "Why are you doing this?!"

But, Tarzan pulled him back. "Not Clayton!" he cried out in a panicked tone. "*&&X%! Not Clayton!"

The hunter's jaw tightened, and he let out a war cry before turning his gun on all of us. "Raaaaaagh!" Clayton fired off a single round and sent the Heartless to attack alongside him.

Together, however, we made quick work of the Heartless and backed Clayton into a corner. After a few good hits from mine and Sora's Keyblade, he wobbled back and held up his shotgun offensively. But, rather than shooting anyone of us, he pointed it up at the sky and waited.

"What is he...?" Sora mumbled.

The wall of rocks behind Clayton imploded, or so I thought it did. Sunlight poured into the cliff area from a beautiful side of the jungle. This angered Tarzan, though. He shouted and went to attack Clayton with his spear aggressively. Something hissed and smacked Tarzan to the side.

It took a while to see it's invisible form, but the chameleon Heartless was there. Clayton laughed and rode on its back, "You fool! I've finally found it, and it was all thanks to this glorious beast. I'd have let you live to see my plans come true, but... There's been a change. Prepare to die!"

"Get up, Tarzan!" I shouted to the ape man, who struggled to his feet. _We're taking them down!_

Clayton and the _Stealth Sneak_ were a tough pair of enemies to beat. We drew them away from each other during the battle to pick them off one at a time, which made it a little easier. I worked alongside Sora, Donald, and Goofy to take down the giant Heartless, while Tarzan fought Clayton on his own.

We carefully dodged the beams of energy the Heartless shot out from its eyes, and its long tongue. Fighting it was really no problem, though. It jumped around and led us in circles, but we found a way to beat it. The stupid thing had enough fight in it to knock Sora away, though. And when I went over to him to help him up, its scaly claws plucked me away.

"Wah!" I yelped and struggled to get out of its tight grip.

"Kara!" The guys all exclaimed in unison.

"We've gotta do something!" Sora shouted at the top of his lungs. "Hold on, we'll save you!"

"Donald, hit it with your magic," Goofy suggested, surprisingly.

"But, I..." Donald hesitated, pulling his magic staff close. "...What if we had only one key with us?"

"Seriously?!" I slammed my fist down on the chameleon's claw. "Donald! You can't be serious."

"Aw, phooey!" he grumbled, casting a fire spell at the Heartless's head. It did enough to loosen its grip on me, and I thwacked it over the head again with my Keyblade. But, the Stealth Sneak turned invisible again even after the harsh beating we gave it.

"Ugh... Thanks, Donald," I rubbed my arm.

At the same time as us when we were tracking down the Heartless, Clayton came flying down and rolled in the dust with Tarzan. The two were locked in fisticuffs, but Tarzan kicked the hunter away with ease. We all had Clayton surrounded now.

"You... You think this'll stop me...?" he panted. "I will hunt down every last- Huh?"

Revealing itself, the Stealth Sneak swayed from side to side. It turned out that it had finally succumbed to its injuries from our attacks. My stomach sank in disgust when Clayton failed to move out of the way in time. The giant Heartless fell on top of him, crushing the hunter to death.

I turned my head away as they both faded into darkness. The battle was officially over when a pair of two hearts rose into the sky, never to be seen again.

 _Battle comes with sacrifice. Besides, he let the darkness take control over himself. It was only a matter of time before his plan backfired. Either way, good job._

The voice inside my head chuckled in a sinister kind of way as it faded away. I shook my head and limped back to the others, who were being approached by the gorillas. Kerchak was shockingly calm as he towered over us, and he put a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"H-Huh?" We all were unsure of what to say, and then Sora went flying through the air.

"Whoooooaaaa!"He screamed.

"What the?!" I yelped and squirmed for freedom when Kerchak's giant hand held me up by the belt. "Waaaaahhh!"

One after another, we were all flying over the cliffs and onto rough grounds. I landed on top of Sora and Donald landed on top of me. Goofy, being the last one tossed, fell on top of the pile. We untangled ourselves and watched the gorilla pack depart for somewhere else. No words. Just grateful expressions. _I suppose that's how they bond._

"Tarzan, home." He stood on top of a rock and gazed out at the beautiful view behind the short wall of shrubs.

It was so... so... breathtaking. My jaw nearly dropped at the sight of the waterfalls and lake.

"This must've been what Clayton and the Heartless were looking for," I said quietly.

"Well, it's safe now," Sora nodded.

It wasn't long before Jane and Terk joined us up there, and we adventured through the cave near the waterfall. Inside the waterfall cavern, we climbed our way up the slippery path to the cave depths. There were plenty of wild vines to grab onto during the ascent.

"Hey, Goofy, what's this?" I stopped a moment and picked up a crystalline ore from the shallow stream of water flowing from openings in the walls. It looked almost like a star, but with extra points and an odd formation. "This isn't a gummi block, is it?"

"Oh, wow!" he jumped up and clicked his heels. Goofy, and Donald, too, were astonished by it. "Good going, Kara!"

"It's an Orichalcum!" Donald blinked a few times and took it from my hands. "You can make amazing things with an ore like this. Where'd you find it?"

"On the ground." I told them, pointing at the spot in between my feet. "Um... but what is an Orichal... something... exactly?"

"Like I said," Donald rolled his eyes. "It's a special ore to make things with."

I pursed my lips and took the ore back from Donald to put it in our growing inventory of items. Well, that was really no help, but it was cool that I found a _special_ ore.

At the farthest end in the cave, our group came to a halt when the path ended. The darkness was dimly illuminated by a gentle light radiating from a family of butterflies. No one dared say a word, until the butterflies flew passed us.

"*&&X%." Tarzan said again, confusing us.

"This is your home?" Sora spoke up, showing a little anger and sadness in his eyes. "But that means..."

Tarzan raised his hand quieted everyone's muttering down, and then he made a gesture with his hand to his ear. A faint roaring sound from close by, it echoed throughout the cave.

"Huh?" Goofy scratched his head. "What's that sound?"

"The waterfalls..." Jane pointed out. "They're echoing all the way here."

"*&&X%." Tarzan spoke the gorilla language again, tapping on Sora's chest. "Friends there. See friends."

"I think I get it," I folded my arms and tapped my fingers against my elbow. "What he must be saying is... heart."

"So, that's what *&&X% means," Jane nodded. "Heart. Friends in our hearts..."

"Heart..." Tarzan pronounced the word slowly.

"Oh, so that's what it meant." Sora was bummed out by the news. The feelings were mutual. I was hoping to find Riku and Kairi, too, but it seemed like they were on another world. Still, I couldn't find it in me to be so down and depressed.

Tarzan nodded, "Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."

At that moment, Donald and Sora turned to each other apologetically. Tarzan's words changed something in them both, and that was something Goofy and I were so happy about. We all had forgiveness for each other's faults. It made me feel glad.

"Sorry about what I said back there," Sora rubbed the back of his arm and apologized.

"I'm sorry, too!" Donald nodded.

Goofy smiled big and pulled us three into a hug. "Yeah!" he cheered. "All for one, huh?"

"All for one!" I agreed happily.

Our attention fell back on the place where the butterflies had been. The light was still bright, and it responded when Sora approached it. When they left, a small hole was revealed. A keyhole! Just like that time in the other world.

As if he knew exactly what he was supposed to do, Sora brought out his Keyblade and pointed it at the keyhole. The beam of light shot into it, and there was a locking sound. I wasn't sure entirely about what it was, but it must have been something good. With the keyhole fading away into light, our job was surely finished.

"Hey, it's another gummi!" Donald picked something up.

"But it's sure not the king's..." Goofy sighed sadly. "Better take it to Leon."

Our next destination was set. Whenever we got the chance to go back to Traverse Town, we were going to go and see Leon about this weird looking gummi block. Too bad, though. Donald's new favorite gorilla, Terk, was awfully sad about him leaving.

* * *

 _News traveled fast about the heroes success in the Deep Jungle world, and about the uncontrolled spreading of darkness throughout it. The villains at the round table were caught off guard by how well the Keyblade Wielders managed against the overwhelming offs stacked against them. Although, not all were present to see._

 _"What drew the Heartless to that world?" Baffled by the appearance of Heartless, one of the villains questioned their motive._

 _The three sinister figures stood together in agreement over the question. It stumped them all, but the pale-skinned woman at the head of the meeting had all the answers they sought. She stepped forward with her glowing staff beside her, and her eyes focused on the four responsible for the defeat of the Heartless._

 _"It was the hunter who lured them there," she stated. "His lust for power acted as the bait, so you have seen. Hmph! But it seems the bait was too tasty for his own good."_

 _Breaking out into a fit of laughter, one of her guests gleefully giggled in delight over Clayton's demise. This one was a bag of no good bugs. "Yeah, he got chomped instead!" the haunting man said. "Too bad for him."_

 _Next to him, a slim elder stepped into the light cast down from above and smirked. His snake-like staff seemed to glow with evil as he stood before his allies._

 _"A weak-hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless," he said. "But the children are a problem. They found the Keyhole in that world."_

 _"Tis not the first time," the witch sighed. "But, fear not. It will take them ages to find the rest. Besides, they remain blissfully unaware of our other plans."_

 _"Yes, the princesses..." said the other woman, just as a few Heartless led in a "prisoner" - a little girl in a blue dress._

 _"They are falling into our hands, one by one. Speaking of which..." The horned witch grinned at the sight of the frightened child. She looked no older than Sora and Kara. "It's only a matter of time."_

 _Her eyes returned to the image of the Keyblade Wielders, Sora and Kara. Although she was not interested in dealing with them just yet, the witch was had a spark of fascination with the girl standing to the right of her friend. "Perhaps another asset would be useful."_

* * *

"Well, guess we'd better get going."

Everyone was back at the tent now. The world was saved from the Heartless, and now we were free to get back to our mission. I looked forward to getting out of the jungle. Civilization was calming for me...

"Where is your ship, anyway?" Jane asked out of curiosity.

"Uh..." It stumped me and Sora. The two of us were ejected when the gummi ship when it crash landed. "It's not too far away."

Tarzan walked over to Sora and planted a hand on his shoulder. "Sora, Tarzan, friends," he said with a bright smile.

Although we were sad to leave our new friends, the fate of the worlds depended on us. We returned to the gummi ship and entered the ocean of stars. Soon, we would be returning to Traverse Town to see Leon about the gummi block we picked up.

"So, about that gummi block that came out of that glowing hole..." Sora started, staring at the sparkling object sitting by the controls. "It doesn't look like the others. Wonder what it's used for."

"I dunno," Donald said, directing our course.

"Hmm, I bet Leon knows exactly what to do with it!" Goofy chuckled.

"Then let's go see him already." I slumped in my chair and pointed ahead. "We're not getting any younger!"

"Hey, I wanna be pilot!" Sora jumped up and pushed Donald out of his seat for the second time.

"Hey, stop it!" Donald argued with him, again, and pushed back. "Don't touch those!"

"Oh, come on," Sora pouted, holding on to the armrests. "I'm the Keyblade master, so I should be able to pilot the gummi ship."

"Excuse me?" I folded my arms and glared at Sora. "Just so you know, I've got a Keyblade, too... And it looks cooler than yours. So, we both should be able to fly the gummi ship."

Donald flailed his arms, "I don't care who you are! No!"

"Here we go again..." Goofy braced himself as the ship rocked back and forth.

After some squabbling around, I was able to come out on top of the two and take control of the gummi ship after smacking them both over the head. The controls were surprisingly easy to work with, and Donald taught me how it all worked when he got his senses back. And so, we made a return to Leon's location.

Sora and I switched places partway so that he could have a turn, and Goofy had me operate the guns, too, with a little lesson. It was the best of both worlds!


	30. Back in Town

"Oh, you guys are back!" Yuffie greeted us the moment we stepped through the gates to town. The cheerful ninja was as spunky as ever, and we were so glad to see her there. "So what brings you here?"

"Actually, have you seen Leon?" Sora asked her. "We need his help with something."

Yuffie thought about it for a moment, then nodded as if a light bulb lit up in her head. "Leon's probably at the underground cavern. He likes to go there often when he needs to train," she said. "You know, the channel in the alleyway is connected to the cavern. It's barred off so no one can enter, though. Well, see ya!"

A second later, the ninja was gone. So, we were left to figure out where this underground cavern was by ourselves and with only a few hints.

"That helped a lot," Donald grumbled for the millionth time as we made our way to the alley behind the hotel.

There was indeed a water channel running through there. We had actually been through there before and walked passed it once or twice. And, at the end of the channel, there was a closed tunnel that surely led to that place Yuffie mentioned to us. It matched the description, so we broke through and looked for Leon's training place inside.

"Ew, do we really have to swim there?" I groaned. "I don't feel like getting wet."

The water was nearly reaching my waste, and it was so cold. It was also really dirty, which made the experience all the more nasty. However, the boys didn't seem to mind it all that much. Maybe they were used to that kind of thing after adventuring through a jungle.

On the bright, it was only a short swim to where Leon was. We could see the light of his campfire, and he was swinging his sword on the edge of the rocks. Aerith was with him, too, as he trained with his gunblade.

"Oh, it's Sora and Kara," the woman saw us emerge from the water. She already had a few towels handy and lent them to us so that we could dry off. "Welcome back!"

"Thanks!" I said. "Oh, uh, before I forget. We need to see Leon."

"Yeah, I heard you coming," Leon stopped his training and joined us at the fire. He sat down and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "So, you kids found the Keyhole."

"That's what it's called?" Sora wondered, and the swordsman nodded. "Yeah. We found a couple of them, actually. The Keyblade locked them automatically."

"That's good," Aerith sighed in relief.

"Every world among the stars has a Keyhole." Leon explained to us. It was a very boring but very interesting explanation. "And each one leads to the heart of that world. There must be one in this town as well."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked again. "I get the whole Keyhole thing, but the heart of a world?"

"It's all in Ansem's report," Aerith told him.

"The Heartless enter through the Keyhole and do something to the world's core," Leon added.

"And, what happens to the world?!" Sora sat up, anxious to know. "Is it something bad?"

"In the end, the world disappears," Aerith finished explaining after a long pause.

"What?!"

Everyone was caught off guard. My eyes were wide with shock. _The world disappears if the Heartless go into the Keyhole?_ I thought to myself. Pulling my knees to my chest, I gulped and remembered the destruction of Destiny Islands. The darkness pulled it apart, piece by piece. That was because the Heartless entered its Keyhole? _It's so... unreal._

"That's why your Keyblades are so important." Leon stood up and slipped back into his short-sleeved jacket. Sora and I were the only ones who had the power to do anything since we had the Keyblades.

"I don't know..." Sora dropped his head and turned away.

"We need to find our friends, too." I had finally calmed down from the revelation of the Keyhole's purpose. Riku and Kairi were an important part of why we were exploring the worlds. If we ever wanted to be together again, we had to go and find them. "But... I do want to find the Keyholes, too."

"Seeing other worlds would probably serve you well," Leon said with a nod.

"We've gotta find your friends and King Mickey!" Both Donald and Goofy were in agreement, but Sora was not quite convinced at first.

"I guess you're right," he shook his head. After some time passed, our clothes had finally dried off and Leon was back to training. We had found out enough information about the worlds to motivate us, so we were about ready to get back to exploring. But, before we left, we went back to Leon to ask him something else. "Hey, Leon. This gummi block is different from the other ones we have. Do you know what it's for?"

Leon was handed the curved gummi block, but his face went blank, "..."

"If you ask Cid, he should know enough about it," Aerith put a hand on Leon's shoulder.

"Wait," Leon stopped us. "Sora, Kara. Take this with you. This stone holds some mysterious power in it. I've been carrying it around for luck, but I want you to hold onto it."

"Awesome!" I accepted the gemstone from Leon. "How do we use it?"

"..." He went blank again.

"Leon?"

* * *

After dealing with some pesky Heartless getting in our way, we returned to the First District to talk to Cid at his shop. The middle-aged shopkeeper was glad to see us, too, and he welcomed us into the Accessory Shop. That was when Sora showed him the gummi block we got from the last world.

"Oi, what've you got there?" he asked, inspecting the item. A closer look at it stunned him and a wide grin appeared on his face. "Hey! Well, if it ain't a gummi block."

"Yup!" Sora nodded. "Do you know what it's for?"

Cid put the block down and dropped his toothpick, "You're kiddin' me! You're flyin' a gummi ship and ya don't know nothin' about navigation gummis? Bunch of pinheads. Interspace ain't no playground."

"There's a lot we don't know," I folded my arms and pouted. "So? What do you know about Keyblades? We have to use the gummi ship to go to other worlds. Not like we have a choice."

"Whoa, easy there, tiger," Cid held up his hands defensively. "I didn't know. No hard feelings, alright?"

"Fine." I nodded.

"Well, I guess I could lend y'all a hand, then," he went on to say, and we thanked him for that. Cid sat on the counter and taught us a little something about gummi blocks, especially the navigation gummi. "Basically, with navigation gummis, you can go to new places. I'll install this baby on your ship for you."

"That's great!" Donald quacked.

"When can ya do it?" Goofy asked.

"I gotta go and deliver this thing for someone first," Cid said, pulling out an old book. "Heh, this book is pretty old. When the guy brought it in, it was practically falling apart. Too beat up to restore it to the way it used to be. But, I did a decent job puttin' it back together. Anyway, mind deliverin' it for me? It goes to the old house past the Third District. Look for a big ole fire sign- Oof!"

"Whoa!" We all stumbled when an explosion shook the store. As a matter of fact, it was big enough to send a shockwave through all of the town.

"Wh-What was that?" Sora stood back up as a bell rang.

"Hmm?" Cid got to his feet and leaned up against the counter. "The bell at the gizmo shop is ringing. Check it out if ya want, but take care of that book first. When you're done, stop by the house in the Third District. I'll be there with the others."


	31. A Book and a Familiar Face

**~A/N~**

 **Woot! Give me your thoughts about what you like most about the fic. What can be done to improve it? What kinds of things make it good? Are the characters decently portrayed? Feedback!**

 **And, when I'm able to, I'll look through your comments and work on making the fanfiction better! \\( ^ o ^ )/**

* * *

After that strange explosion, the town was looking a little hectic. The people we passed by were all shaken up and worried about the possibility of another attack- a Heartless attack. Cid did say that we could investigate it if we wanted to, but we had to deliver the book for him first. So, we went through the Third District to where that fire sign was.

"Hey, doesn't this lead to Merlin's house?" Sora walked through the door with the fire symbol on it.

 _This does look awfully familiar_ , I thought. But, when we got to the other side to see those floating rocks, it hit me. The book we were delivering was going straight to the magician's study where Merlin did his works of magic. It got me all excited, too. Maybe we could get another lesson in magic while we visited him.

Hurrying across the lake, we made it to Merlin's place and met up with the sorcerer. He was pleased to see us all in good health. Merlin and the Fairy Godmother shared a cup of tea with us before all eyes fell on the book in my arms.

"Oh, that book..." Merlin took it from me and examined it. "Ah, so Cid asked you to bring this. Thank you, children. You wish to know what kind of book it is?"

"Uh, sure," I nodded.

"I don't even know myself!" he chuckled, throwing me for a loop. "In fact, it's not even mine. Somehow it found its way into my back a long time ago. It was such a curious book, I asked Cid to repair it for me. Well, I'll put it here somewhere, for now."

"What's so special about it?" Donald asked.

"This book holds a great secret," Merlin explained. "It's pages are missing... If you can find the pages, then I'm certain you will discover something truly magnificent. Do look at it whenever you like, too. And my best regards to Cid for repairing it for me. Oh, and about that stone of yours. I'm certain that-"

"I'll be glad to help!" Fairy Godmother appeared from out of nowhere, startling us. Well, at least we'd have an idea about whatever the heck it was for. And she seemed to know about it pretty well. "Oh, the poor thing. He's turned into a summon gem."

"A summon gem?" I asked her.

Fairy Godmother nodded and explained the situation to us. "This little creature lived in a world that was consumed by darkness," she said. "When a world vanishes, so do its inhabitants. But, this one had such a strong heart, he became a gem instead of vanishing with his world."

"Wow!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed.

"But, can he regain himself?" I asked again, curious about the creature trapped as a gem.

"Yes, but only his spirit," she answered kindly. With her magic wand, the Fair Godmother waved it around the gem in my hand. "Bibbity bobbity boo!"

The gem shined radiantly. I could feel a powerful light flowing out from it, and a strong voice spoke into my ears.

 ** _"Thank you... my friend. My name is Simba. When you need me, I'll do my best to help you."_**

"Amazing..." I gasped, wrapping my fingers around Simba's gem. This was no little creature. It was a magnificent friend and supporter. The good news was that Simba would be able to return home if his world was restored. I told Sora and the others about Simba when I had the chance, but we were going to find any other gem out there so that they all could go back home one day.

"Hey, why don't we check out that weird book," Sora suggested, tugging at the edge of my sleeve. He was pointing at the tattered book that Cid fixed.

"Why not?" I shrugged, slipping the gem into my pocket. While Donald and Goofy were with Merlin, chatting about something or other, the both of us investigated the mysterious contents of Merlin's book.

The front cover was stitched up, but it was still in pretty rough condition. Sora's fingers slipped under the hard cover and opened to a random page in the middle of the book. Pictures were all over the page. It was a simple picture book but with awkward blotches of white where some should be.

We were reading the text at the bottom of the pages, until a light enveloped us.

* * *

 _"What just happened?!" Donald jumped up to his feet._

 _"They're gone!" Goofy looked all over the house, confused by what had just taken place._

 _Donald, Goofy, Merlin, and the Fairy Godmother blinked in surprise as Sora and Kara disappeared in a ball of light. They were gone, in the blink of an eye. That was what it seemed like to them. No one had seen that the duo of Keyblade Wielders had been sucked into the book itself!_

 _Speaking of..._

 _Two shrunken Keyblade masters descended upon the open pages of the mysterious book. Their feet touched down lightly, but their bodies nearly dropped when gravity set back in. Confusion was written all over their faces._

 _"What?" Sora glanced around, noticing the change in location. "This is crazy!"_

 _"That book's magic!" Kara stated, rubbing her eyes in unbelief._

 _It was completely unexpected, but they regained their composure and took the time to examine their surroundings._

 _One of the only pictures present in the book entirely rose up. Their attention was called upon, and the teens took the matter into their own hands and examined it._

 _Side by side, Kara and Sora roamed through an empty field. Rolling hills with spaced out trees stretched for miles. The sight was amazing and beautiful, but their focus seemed to be solely on a yellow bear sitting on a log in the middle of the meadow. Not a scary bear but a friendly looking one wearing a red T-shirt. It looked friendly enough, they thought._

 _"Think, think, think, think." The bear tapped his forehead thoughtfully._

 _"Hi there," Sora greeted him. "What's wrong?"_

 _"Oh, nothing," he briefly glanced up and smiled. "Just thinking."_

 _"Oh."_

 _"I was thinking of how to say goodbye to Pooh."_

 _"Pooh?" the duo looked at each other, a little dumbstruck._

 _"Yes?" the tubby bear stopped his thinking and looked up in response, then it hit them._

 _"Wait a second..." Kara folded her arms and raised a brow. "You're Pooh?"_

 _"Yes, I'm Winnie the Pooh," he said as they sat down on the log, too. "Pooh for short. Who are you?"_

 _"I'm Sora."_

 _"And I'm Kara."_

 _Winnie the Pooh smiled sweetly at them and waved, "Oh. Hello, Sora and Kara. Have you come to say goodbye to Pooh, too?"_

 _"Well, no." Both shook their heads and smiled kindly in return. Sora leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "Why would we do that? We've only just met!"_

 _"Because everyone's gone away," Pooh told the Keyblade masters. "We all lived here in the Hundred Acre Wood. And we'd take walks together, or play Pooh sticks... And everyday, I'd eat some hunny. Just one small smackeral would taste very good right now. But now everyone's gone. All my friends, and my favorite Hunny Tree, too. Everyone must've gone away while I was napping. I think..."_

 _Hopping down from the log, Winnie the Pooh began to walk away slowly. "So, who knows? Maybe I shall end up going away somewhere as well. But I wonder, how do I say goodbye to myself? Think, think, think."_

 _Kara dropped her shoulders and stared at Winnie for a solid minute. Neither of them could figure out just what to do for this unfortunate situation, to make it any better. But, then, Winnie the Pooh's stomach began to growl._ _"Oh, my tumbly is getting rather rumbly..."_

 _"He's gone." Sora slid off the log and let his arms drop to his sides. "What are we supposed to do now?"_

 _"Well, we can't spend the whole day here," his friend said._

 _"Mm..."_

 _"Let's go back and think about what to do later."_

* * *

"We should go and see what's going on with that bell in the Second District," Sora suggested as we returned to the Third District.

"No!" Donald shook his head vigorously.

"What? Why not?" I huffed and folded my arms. "It's not like there's going to be some giant monster or anything."

He seemed to take note of the sarcasm in my voice and grumbled as he walked a little faster than the rest of us. Donald didn't get too far, though. A couple of Heartless popped up in the middle of the path, and they knocked him back effortlessly with a swipe of the claw. Luckily, though, Goofy got him back to his feet.

"Heartless?!" Sora gasped, bringing out his Keyblade. "Haven't they had enough yet?"

"Guess not," I sighed, following his lead.

However, before we could even get to fighting back, a streak of purple and red cut through the two Heartless. The fight was over already... but how? My eyes followed a dark looking sword and fell upon silvery hair and aquamarine eyes.

Sora mumbled something and nearly dropped his Keyblade, and I stood there with my jaw dropped. Of all the people to have shown up from out of nowhere, it had to be _him_. There was no doubt in my mind that it was the one and only.

It was _Riku_!

"There you are," Riku smirked and rested his sword on his shoulder. "You guys look a little roughed up. What's going on?"

"Riku!" Sora, not believing his eyes, walked forward and started pulling on Riku's cheeks. It got annoying real quick, so Riku pushed Sora off playfully and chuckled.

"Hey, hey, cut it out," he said. "Pretty sure I'm the real deal."

"Wow, it really is you..." Sora breathed. "I'm not dreaming this time, right?"

"I sure hope not." Riku shook his head with an amused look on his face. His gloved hand ran through his hair, and he sighed. "It took forever to find you guys."

"We're so glad we ran into you!" I happily chimed in, and they both nodded in agreement. "Come on, let's get out of here."


	32. Something is Brewing

**A/N** It's been a while! But, now I'm back and busy as ever. More chapters are in the works, so woot.**

* * *

The three of us walked ahead of Donald and Goofy to catch up after all the time we've been apart. There was so much to ask Riku, but neither of us even knew where to start. It was just so great to be back together again. Well, no... wait. We were still missing one more.

Sora noticed at the last second and stopped abruptly in the middle of the alley. Kairi was nowhere to be seen, and it became a real bother. To him and to me.

"Wait a second, where's Kairi?" Sora asked Riku, who had also stopped.

Riku's expression twisted into one of concern.

"Isn't she with you two?" he asked.

I shook my head, and Sora dropped his eyes to his feet. "No..." My voice was low. A feeling of guilt scratched at my heart. It bugged me that, after all the worlds we had been to so far, we hadn't even found Kairi. It was only by chance that Riku showed up. "...We had no luck."

"Well, don't worry." Riku's hand rested comfortingly rested on my shoulder. He walked passed me, slapped Sora lightly on the back, and stood some feet away from everyone else. "I'm sure she made it off the island, too."

Riku's head tilted back as he relaxed. His arms spread out to the sides as he took in the fresh air.

"We're finally free," he continued. "Hey, she might even be looking for us now. We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this-"

 _Slash!_

A single Shadow had slipped behind Riku from the darkness, and it was about to attack him from behind. If it weren't for Sora, who dashed ahead and took it out, Riku would have been hurt pretty bad. I smiled softly at his reflexes with the Keyblade. _Flashy as ever._

Sora rejoined our group with a triumphant look on his face. He was smirking and had a hand on his hip with the Keyblade in the other.

"Leave it to who?" he proudly asked.

"Sora, what did you-"

"I've been looking for you and Kairi, too, with their help," Sora interrupted, gesturing to Donald and Goofy. I folded my arms and cleared my throat. "Er, we've been looking together."

Riku's face visibly cringed a little as he glanced over to Donald and Goofy, the duo searching for their king.

"Who are they?" he asked.

"Ahem!" Donald rubbed his hands together and folded his arms. "My name is-"

"We've visited so many places and worlds, looking for you!" Sora cut in again, interrupting Donald.

I sighed and shifted my weight onto one foot. _He's getting so excited about this_ , the thought crossed my mind. _Then again, I'm so happy, too, that we found Riku._

"Really? Well, what do you know?" Riku sarcastically and jokingly rolled his eyes. He hardly seemed impressed with the summary of our adventure Sora gave to him, but I spotted the faint smile he flashed. "I never would have guessed."

"Oh, and guess what?" Goofy walked over to me and Sora, and he pulled us close to him with his hands on our shoulders. "These two are the Keyblade masters! Ain't that fancy?"

"Who would have thought it?" Donald, annoyed by the interruptions, quacked and turned the other way.

"Excuse me." I pouted and glared at him, as did Sora.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Sora stamped his foot on the ground and butted heads with Donald, only for Riku to sneakily swipe the Keyblade out from his hands.

"Hey, this is pretty neat." Riku said quietly, admiring the silver blade. I took a step over to him, shocked by how he was able to keep it in his hands without it going back to Sora. "Think it fits me, Kara?"

"Riku, how did you...?" I felt my jaw drop for the second time.

He smirked and gave me a teasing wink, "So, this is called a _Keyblade_?"

Those three goofballs stopped bickering with one another when Riku disrupted them. They just barely realized that he had even taken it from Sora, who blinked in surprise when he found it not in his hand.

"Hey, give it back!" he demanded, running after Riku who was jumping back out of the way. However, Sora only tripped over his big shoes and fell to the ground. "Oof!"

I winced at the sight and shook my head with a sigh. Nothing really changed between the two of them. Riku still picked on Sora whenever he got the chance to.

Riku's smile eventually faded when he had enough teasing our friend. He held it up above his head one last time as if to compare it to the sparkling stars in the night sky. "Here, it's yours," he said, tossing it back to Sora.

"Okay, so, you're coming with us, right?" Sora asked. His eyes were shining with excitement yet again. "We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!"

"Yeah! Then we can go and find Kairi together," I added, smiling brightly.

"No! He can't come," Donald butted in, denying Riku a spot in the gummi ship.

Immediately, he and Sora argued again. Of course I was upset about it, too. We've spent so long trying to find him, yet Donald wasn't about to let us travel together with one of our best friends? That was so unfair. I hated the idea of leaving Riku behind.

I removed myself from the group as they bickered once again, and I followed after Riku as he walked away for the Second District.

It was concerning seeing him look so... serious after all that. Was he really mad?

"Don't mind Donald," I said to him. "He's always a little over the top. If you come along, he'll get over it eventually. And Goofy can talk it over with him."

"You kidding?" Riku looked skeptical about it. "I'll be fine on my own."

"Well, how about we go with you?" I inquired, pointing my thumb back at Sora.

"He seems a little busy with those guys," Riku pointed out the argument that had erupted before. "Doubt it'd work out so well."

That was a good point. Thinking back, that rough business in the Deep Jungle was stressful enough with them being so cross with each other. I didn't really want to get on Donald's bad side. He was kind enough to even let me and Sora on the gummi ship to find our friends. But, then again, he did say that he'd help us find Riku and Kairi. In this case, he was kind of going against his word.

I sighed and dropped my head as we walked through the gates together. The loud voices behind us soon became muffled when the gates closed. _This isn't fair, at all. How are we supposed to stay together if we can't even travel together?_

"Hey, don't look so down." A finger poked me in the forehead, snapping me out of my thoughts. I stopped and looked up at Riku. The worry did leave for a moment because of his calming effect. "Those guys don't want me to come along. It's no bother, really. I've got my own ways of getting around, so I can look for Kairi myself. Unless... Do you want to tag along?"

"Go with you to find Kairi?" I blinked a couple of times. "But, what about..."

I peered over my shoulder but only to see that we were alone. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were still in the other district. They were probably still at each other's necks. There was no point adding fuel to the fire, though, so I didn't bother running back to try and convince Donald of anything concerning adding Riku to the party.

It wasn't a bad idea at all tagging along with Riku, though. All of us could make a lot more progress if we searched for Kairi in different worlds rather than being in one big group. Thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. But, I was worried about leaving Sora alone. Donald and Goofy were reliable, for the most part, but would he be safe if they were ever separated.

 _Sora has gotten pretty strong, too_ , I thought. _It's not like I have to be his babysitter. He's also a Keyblade master and can take care of himself to an extent. I shouldn't worry so much._

"You know he can take care of himself," Riku said, confirming my thoughts. "Besides, it won't be us alone looking for Kairi. I met some people who said they'd help us."

"What? Really?" I practically gasped. "Are they here with you?"

"One of them is, and she said that she wants to meet you," Riku told me. "Actually, I thought I might go to see her since there's not much to do right now. So, what do you want to do?"

"I..."

Folding my arms and closing my eyes, I thought about it for a moment. With all that was going on, it put me at a divide. I could stick around with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They were my friends, too, and we were in it together to rescue Kairi and the worlds from the Heartless. The three of them together, however, would surely be enough still.

On the other hand... Riku came out here by himself, or with the help of someone else, in an effort to find all of us. Knowing him, he wasn't going to stop searching until all four of us were together again. Seeing that he has a weapon of his own, that sword of his, made it easy to assume that our strengths together would make things easy. He effortlessly took out a couple of Heartless, too.

Yet, why am I so unsure about what to do?

"Can you give me some time to think?" I sighed in defeat. "There's a couple of things that need to be taken care of here, anyway. Let's meet up afterward, and I'll let you know what I'll do."

"I'll be here all day," Riku smiled and nodded. "Whenever you know, you can find me wandering around town."

"Okay!" I smiled back at him, and we went our separate ways.

* * *

Returning to the Third District, I found the others waiting around by one of the houses. It must have been Cid's place. They were all minding their own business until I approached them. Donald was impatiently tapping his foot. Sora popped up from the stair that he was sitting on and rushed over to me.

"Where've you been" he asked me, eager to know where I went.

I shrugged my shoulders and laughed softly, "Nowhere. Come on, let's go let Cid know that we delivered that book."

We all paid Cid a visit. But, to our surprise, Leon and the others were also there. They all sat around a table in the middle of the living room and talked amongst themselves until we joined in. Yuffie was the first to greet us, and she gave us a rundown of why we were meeting at Cid's house.

It was their secret base, she told us. For a secret base, it was so cozy and felt like home.

Donald and Goofy enjoyed themselves as they ate some of the snacks, while Sora and I conversed with Cid and Leon.

"Oh, hey, glad you could make it," Cid said to us. "Now that you're all here... You guys ever hear of someone named Maleficent? I hear she's in town."

Maleficent? That was a new name to us, that was for sure.

"Who is she?" I asked him.

"A witch, man, she's a witch!" he suddenly began to shiver and shook his head.

Leon lowered his head so that his long bangs shielded his eyes. "She's the reason this town is full of Heartless," he explained further. "Don't take her lightly."

"She's been using the Heartless for years," Aerith added.

"We lost our world thanks to her..." Leon said.

"One day, a swarm of Heartless took over our world!" Cid went on to say. "That was, uh... about nine years ago. I got out of that mess and came here with these guys."

"That's awful!" Donald trembled.

Leon nodded, "Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem. He dedicated his life to studying the Heartless."

"His report should tell us how to get rid of the Heartless," Cid said.

"Okay, then where is his report?" I asked them, but none of them knew.

"It got scattered when our world was destroyed," Leon explained. "Maleficent must have most of the pages with her."

I folded my arms and let out a quiet sigh. All of this was getting more and more complicated by the minute, and there was no end in sight. _Maleficent... I don't know how I feel about that person, whoever she is. Why would she control the Heartless to destroy an entire world?_

* * *

 _"You see? It's just as I told you."_

 _In the shadows, just outside Cid's home, two figures stood by and observed Sora and the others conversing happily. Riku... and a woman dressed in all black with horns on her head. The woman was smirking softly as she spoke to the teenage boy, who watched one of his friends laughing with a group of unfamiliar people._

 _"While you toiled away trying to find your dear friends, that boy... he quite simply replaced you with some new companions," she said to him. "Evidently, now he values them far more than he does you."_

 _Riku remained silent and wanted to ignore her. He could see Kara in there with Sora, but she was sitting by herself rather than being with the other three. It made him feel bad. Something stirred in his heart as he watched them. Was it anger? He couldn't say for sure._

 _"Hm..." he mumbled something inaudible._

 _"You're better off without that wretched boy," the woman scoffed, leering at Riku. Her face twisted into something else as she leaned in close, wrapping one arm around his broad shoulders. "Now, think no more of him, and come along with me. I'll help you find what you're searching for..."  
_

 _"But... What about..." Riku took a step to the side, away from the witch._

 _"The girl... Kara, was her name?" she asked to confirm, and he nodded. "If it is what your heart desires."_


	33. The Keyhole

We were wrapping up our visit with Cid and the others. But, before we left, we approached the clerk and thanked him for the snacks. Also for allowing us to rest up a bit before we headed out to investigate the Gizmo Shop.

"Thanks for delivering that old book," he thanked us. "Oh, and the navigation gummi's been installed, so you're all set to go. If you find another one, you bring it to me. And for the heck of it, I threw in a warp gummi. It'll make it easier to get to the world's you've already been to."

"Wow!" we all exclaimed.

"That's an awful lot of work," Sora rubbed the back of his head. "What do we owe you?"

"Nothin'," Cid shrugged his shoulders. "Well, better get back to my real job."

"...And that is?" I cocked my head to the side, curious.

"What's my real job?" he smirked. "Y'all just better meet me in the First District."

We were all very curious to know what it was that Cid actually did for work, if it wasn't working at the Accessory Shop. But, if I had to guess, I would assume that it'd have something to do with the gummi blocks we've been giving him. He has a weird fascination with them.

But, before we went anywhere, Aerith stopped us. She had concern written all over her face, although it was kind of hard to see.

"I've been thinking about the bell in the Second District," she began.

"The one that rang a bit ago?" I asked her, and she nodded.

"The one above the Gizmo Shop," Yuffie said. "There's a legend about it, you know."

"It's all boarded up, so nobody can get in there," Aerith continued. "I'm curious as to why it was ringing..."

"Gotta be something crazy," Cid joked. "Heck, you kids go check it out. Ring it a few times to see if anything happens."

A rumor about the Gizmo Shop. I wasn't sure how I felt about rumors, but it was definitely worth checking out. We were going to anyway, but then we decided to go and see them first. So, we made our way to the Second District to see what was up with the bell.

It was not really a surprise that the Heartless were ready to stand in the way. There were many of them, but we easily fought through them to get to where we needed to be. Although, I was a little concerned about the sudden appearance of such a huge number of Heartless. Was it because of Maleficent's appearance in Traverse Town?

At the top of the Gizmo Shop, we found a boarded up area. The wood was old, so it was no problem for Sora, Donald, and Goofy to bust through using their brawn. All that was left to do was see what would happen when the bell rang out.

"This must be the rope to ring the bell," I examined a single rope hanging down from above.

Pulling down on it, the bell began to ring throughout the district, but then the ground began to quake. On the other side of the district, fire erupted around the small fountain in the courtyard, and a giant block in the wall shifted around so that there was a newer design showing.

"H-Hey, something happened!" Goofy pointed at it.

"Pull it again!" Sora said, and so I did.

The second time, something similar happened. Lights flashed above the fountain, replacing the fire, and the block changed around again. And, then, I pulled on the rope one more time.

Beneath our feet, the ground trembled increasingly as the block turned over to reveal butterfly designs. Water sprang up from the fountain pool, catching our attention. Something about this one was peculiar. We all watched it carefully, when a radiant light shined. A Keyhole!

"Is that what I think it is?" Donald asked, but his question went unanswered. Everyone had jumped down to the courtyard to go and investigate the sighting. He was right behind us, though. "Whack!"

I hurriedly ran along toward the Keyhole alongside Sora and the others. But, to our surprise, a giant Heartless fell down from the sky. It was the Guard Armor that we had defeated during the time we all met together in the Third District.

It was surprising to see it back. I was so sure that defeating it that time released a heart. Did that mean that it had two?

Regardless of why it showed up, we staved it off and broke up the disconnected limbs once again. However, the Heartless didn't stay down for long enough. It pieced itself together again, but in a different order. Its hands became its feet, and vice versa. _Opposite Armor_ , it was then called.

Much like before, we destroyed its hands and feet in an effort to get the main body alone, but it was so much stronger than before. This fight was surprisingly difficult, especially when it shot a ball of explosive energy at us.

All of us were scuffed up to a degree, but our combined powers put a stop to the menacing Heartless. It crashed to the ground in defeat, and a large heart was released for the final time. No more would we see the Guard Armor, nor the Opposite Armor after that.

"Phew..." I sighed in relief, only to be caught up in a strange wind. It flowed into my Keyblade and made my body feel light. _W-What is this?_

 _You did a good job fighting that huge Heartless. As a reward, I'll give you a nice power. This magic is known as Aero. Use it to protect yourself._

The voice faded away quickly. So, it was another new magic, then. That helped, but it could have helped more if I got it prior to the battle. Either way, I was grateful for attaining a new spell to use.

"Sora!" Goofy jumped up, cheering him on.

I watched as his Keyblade shot a thin beam of light into the Keyhole. It was locked, just as the ones in the Deep Jungle and Wonderland were. When he sealed it, the outline of the Keyhole chipped away into fragments of light and disappeared. We got another navigation gummi out of it, too.

"I guess our job is done," Sora turned to us.

"Yeah," Donald nodded. "Let's go see Cid."

* * *

Things were finally settling down in Traverse Town and all around the world thanks to the locking of the Keyhole. The Heartless weren't so numerous, so we were enjoying the peaceful setting. People all around were catching word of a _giant monster_ getting beat, and they were excited to hear of it.

News aside, we made our way through the First District to meet up with Cid. He was standing around at the top of the stairs behind the shop he worked at. It was a little strange seeing him there. Was that supposed to be where he really sold the goods the shop had? I thought it was a little odd, but he did mention something about his real occupation.

"Cid!" we greeted the gummi-wise clerk.

"Hey, ya got here pretty quick," he chuckled and put his hands on his hips. Cid moved some boxes out from behind him and opened one of them up to us. It was filled with a variety of gummi blocks! "Now you know. I'm in the gummi block business!"

"Really?" I blinked a couple of times.

"Ya know, workin' on your gummi ship sure was great," Cid went on. "Come again and I'll give you a big discount. Here, this one's for you. Go ahead, take it. It's a special giveaway."

The gummi block that he gave us was a special looking one. He told us a little bit about it. Supposedly, this one would give us extra support in taking out the Heartless on our way to other worlds. Before we left, however, Sora stopped and turned back to Cid.

"Hey, uh... What about this thing?" he said holding out the gummi block we got after sealing the Keyhole.

"Hey, you kids got another navigation gummi, eh?" Cid folded his arms and took a seat on a crate to examine it. The nod of his head gave us the signal that that was what it was. "I'll bet you want it installed."

"Yeah, please," Sora nodded.

"Right... Hmm... Looks like this is another one of those blocks that come in sets," he told us. "You gotta find the mate to this one.

"I guess that means what I think it means," Donald tapped his foot impatiently.

"Looks like we're going on another adventure!" Goofy popped up all excited.

Both Goofy and Sora were in an excited mood. It took Donald a moment to join them in the cheeriness. I sighed and rolled my eyes at their silly behavior. Although, it was too hard to hold back a small fit of laughter at their dancing around.

The plan was to leave first thing in the morning, with it already being so late. Everyone was feeling pretty exhausted after that last battle, so we went back to Cid's to rest up in his extra room for the night. But, that night, I found it incredibly difficult to sleep comfortably...


	34. Split Decision

**A/N** Merry Christmas all! Hope you are having an outstanding week. Here's another chapter for you! \\(^-^)**

* * *

I sighed as soft and loud snores alike filled the room. Cid was kind enough to lend us his spare bedroom so that we could rest easy for the night, but there weren't enough beds for everyone. Sora and the other two ended up sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags, but they seemed to be comfortable enough to fall asleep super fast. Yet, there I was, wide awake on the bed.

Moonlight pouring in from the upstairs window gently illuminated my face and reflected in my amber eyes. My eyes weren't heavy at all nor glossy, but my body was sore and ready for rest. But, I was way too restless to even consider sleeping now. There was too much on my mind for me to be able to close my eyes.

 _We're supposed to be leaving for the next world tomorrow, but I'm just not sure what to do..._

With clarity, that talk I had with Riku hours ago came back to memory. He suggested that I go with him to find Kairi, wherever she had ended up after our world was taken over by the Heartless. It meant leaving behind Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

I sat up on the mattress and gazed down at their slumbering faces. To think that I had the option of separating myself from them. But, it would only be for a time, anyway. After we find Kairi, then the three of us would be together again. Having that thought on my mind, my gaze locked on Sora. His mouth hung open slightly as he slept, and he was drooling just a bit. I half smiled and gave him a look. That was the typical Sora.

Riku was most likely in town still, and he probably wouldn't be leaving until the early morning, too. Before then, I had to go and talk to him again. Maybe just one more talk about it would help me make a decision.

Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I slipped out of the covers and crept around the sprawled out bodies on the floor to get to the doorway. The floor felt like ice to my bare feet, and I cringed a little at the bite of the cold. I put my socks and shoes on downstairs, then silently closed the door behind me to not wake up anyone else. Cid was still out working and wouldn't be back until after an hour. Was he at the Accessory Shop?

Before anything else, it was probably a good idea to stock up on some stuff before tomorrow. A few more recovery items to stay a little more safe never hurt, nor did buying some equipment.

I hurried along through the Third District and made my way to the shop. Thankfully, it was quick getting there because of the townspeople being at home. There were very few people out, if any. The inside of the shop was so toasty and warm, but I didn't see anyone around. Cid was out and nobody stood in his place at the counter.

It was just me, and a weird looking little boy hiding under the counter with a box next to him.

"Um..." I walked up to the boy. To my surprise, his arms and legs were made out of wood. A puppet? But, it wasn't like any ordinary puppet. It was trembling!

"Well, well, as I live and breathe!" Hopping up onto my left shoulder was Jiminy, surprising me yet again. I thought he was back at the house with the others. It seemed like he knew this puppet boy. "If it isn't Pinocchio!"

He jumped down and greeted his old friend, who seemed awfully happy to see him.

"Oh," Pinocchio lifted his head up. "Hi, Jiminy."

"What in the world are you doing down here?" Jiminy asked.

"Um..." he searched for the words. "Playing hide-and-seek!"

This got Jiminy pacing back and forth. "I just don't believe it," the tiny cricket shook his head in disbelief. "And here I was, up all night, just worried sick about you. Why of all the- Pinocchio!"

"W-What just happened?!" I gasped at the sight.

The boy's nose grew several inches in length!

"Pinocchio! Are you telling me the truth?" Jiminy asked.

"Yes!" Pinocchio answered quickly, but only to have his nose grow another three inches.

Not buying any of it, Jiminy pointed at the small box next to him.

"Then tell me, what is this?" he questioned.

"It was a present," answered Pinocchio.

"No fibbing, now!" Jiminy pressed. "You know you're not supposed to tell lies. A lie only grows and grows, 'til you get caught! Plain as the nose on your face!"

"But if you want something, why wait?" Pinocchio asked curiously. "Why not just take it?"

"Oh, my!" Jiminy was taken back. "Who told you that? You need some advice from your conscience!"

"That's right!" Pinocchio sat on his bottom and nodded with a smile. "You're my conscience, Jiminy! I'll never tell lies as long as you're around."

Immediately, Pinocchio's nose returned to its original size. He was glad to see it that way, as was Jiminy Cricket.

"You need to be good so you can become a real boy," Jiminy said. "You promised Geppetto you would be, right?"

"Oh!" The puppet boy jumped up to his feet and looked around the shop. "Do you know where Father is?"

"He's not with you?"

"Jiminy, let's go find Father!" Pinocchio continued.

"Now, hold on!" Jiminy waved his arms. "There are all sorts of dangers and temptations out there! I'll go find Geppetto, so you just wait here. I've got some friends here who will be helping me. Right, Kara?"

 _Suddenly, I feel left out_. I was slumping my shoulders when Jiminy volunteered me and the others to go and find this man named Geppetto. "Um, well... You could've asked first," I rubbed the back of my head. "I'd talk to the others about it, too, and see what they think. But, I know that everyone will be glad to help somehow!" _I am so sorry, you guys_ , I thought to myself as Pinocchio and Jiminy jumped for joy.

* * *

Shopping for all of the stuff that would be needed for tomorrow took a little longer than I thought, but it was done and over with. I took Jiminy and Pinocchio back to Cid's place so that they could get some rest, too, but I quickly went back out to go and do what I had initially intended. Back in the First District, I searched all over for Riku in hopes of meeting up with him before he was gone again.

"Kara," a voice called out to me from the alley in between a couple of the shops.

I stopped in my tracks and glanced over that way. To my relief, it was Riku. His arms were folded across his chest, and he was smiling at me. "What took you so long?" he asked me as I ran over to him. "I've been waiting forever, you know."

"O-Oh... I'm sorry about that," I dropped my head. _I guess I did get a little distracted._

"Whatever," Riku shrugged his shoulders and led the way into the alley. There were some old crates and barrels stacked up along the brick walls, so we sat on a couple of them. I sat across from him and tapped the toes of my shoes together. He was leaning back on the box behind him with an arm on his knee. Riku's sea green eyes were focused on me the entire time. It made me a little nervous seeing how serious he looked. "Have you made up your mind?"

"I think so," I nodded my head, but I never looked him in the eyes. "I'm just not sure if it's the best thing for me to do."

"Well, let's hear it." Riku sat up and criss-crossed his legs. "Whatever it is on your mind, we can work something out."

I smiled softly and nodded again in agreement.

"Tell me about it," he urged me to continue talking.

Taking in a deep breath, I gathered my thoughts together in an attempt to make up my mind to him. "Honestly, I really want to go with you to find Kairi," I admitted. In my heart, I felt a little guilty saying that. I knew myself, though. It would have been even worse if I just let myself go undecided.

Riku's eyes seemed to light up when I said that, I noticed. The ends of his lips curved upward into a smile, and he leaned forward to listen closely. My heart was pounding in my chest for some reason. _Sora is in good company_ , I thought to myself. I was certain that Donald and Goofy would do all they could to keep him safe from the Heartless. _We're a great team, but he's becoming more independent_.

"I'll go." My mind was made up for certain from that moment and on. I was going to go with Riku to find Kairi. "Mm, but how are we going to go to other worlds?"

"There's this-"

"It's quite simple, really." All of a sudden, it became dark. A tall figure stood over me, and I was sitting completely in their shadow. Riku and I both turned to see the figure of a shady individual. The dark aura this person gave off was so... cold. Our smiles immediately faded. A woman with pale skin and a sinister gaze in her eyes smiled at us both.


	35. To the Desert!

Something about this woman was daunting. The black horns on her head, the dark cloak. Everything about her seemed to be... I wasn't sure how to put it. Either way, she made me feel so uneasy. But, I was not about to run away or anything. Riku was right there with me, and he got up with me when she showed up.

"Who are you?" I asked boldly, but I must not have seemed brave with Riku standing in front of me.

"My name is nothing important to you, child," she said, taking a few steps closer. I shot a quick glance to the staff in her hand, noticing the green glow the orb on top gave. It was mesmerizing, but I broke my gaze away from it and focused on the stranger. She stopped and chuckled. "My, such a serious girl. It seems your friend is much like you described."

"Huh?" I narrowed my eyes at her and looked to Riku. "What is she talking about? Riku, who is that?"

"It's okay, Kara," he said, locking eyes with me and nodding his head. "She's going to help us get Kairi back."

"Indeed," the woman confirmed. "Name's aside. It is far more important that we find your precious friend, yes? Come, let us go and prepare ourselves to depart."

* * *

 _"Are we there yet?" Sora couldn't sit still in the back seat of the cockpit. The gummi ship had taken its course through the deep space of the ocean of stars, but they had yet to reach any new worlds. "I'm so bored..."_

 _"No," Donald said angrily as he maneuvered the gummi ship around some space debris. "Sit down and play a game or something. Don't bother the pilot!"_

 _"Aw," Goofy looked back at Sora, who was alone behind them. Dropping his voice down to a whisper, he leaned in close to Donald. "Don't ya think he looks a little gloomy?"_

 _Only briefly did the piloting duck peer over his shoulder at the boy, acknowledging the depressed expression he had. It was unfortunate to see him like that, and it was hard to not understand why. But, they had to keep moving and get to the next world to find the king and the Keyhole. Whether or not it was three of them or four, they had work to do._ _On the plus side, Donald thought, there was more room in the gummi ship._

 _Suddenly, an alarm went off in the ship that caught them all off guard. Dale came up on the monitor as Donald slowed the gummi ship down. There was a mysterious force up ahead that they finally caught sight of. It was unlike anything they had seen before._

 _"What is that?!" Sora jumped out of his seat and pointed at the spectacle. "Looks dangerous."_

 _"Looks suspicious," Dale hummed, unsure of what to think about it. "It's some kind of worm hole, I think. Maybe it leads to another world."_

 _Not giving Donald the chance to refuse, Sora took control and flew them straight into the spatial rip._

 _"Let's go!" he grinned._

 _But, of course, they flew straight into danger. There were Heartless vessels all over, but their gun power was enough to get them through it. The danger soon passed and smooth flying came to be for a time. At least, it was until they made it to their destination. A brand new world ready to be explored._

 _A massive world, bigger than any of the others they had ever been to, came into view. It was like a desert._

 _"Hmm, that looks like Agrabah," Chip showed up on the monitor and identified the new world. "Make sure you guys have plenty of water with you!"_

 _"Right..." Sora went in to land the gummi ship somewhere in the desert, according to Donald's guidance on landing._

* * *

 _"And the Keyhole?"_

 _Two figures dressed in black robes strolled through the empty roads of Agrabah. Teams of Heartless wandered round about them, searching for something... or someone. The witch who was undoubtedly Maleficent walked ahead, disappointed at the sight of this world. However, she could feel that something she desired was there._

 _"The Heartless are searching for it now," the man walking with her said, impatient in his tone. He paused, clearing his throat. "I'm certain we'll find it soon enough. So that just leaves..."_

 _"Squawk! Ugh..."_

 _Swooping down from the sky was a red bird, plump and exhausted from flying for so long. He perched himself on the Arabian man's shoulder and took a few deep breaths to regain some energy. "Jafar!" he began, still somewhat out of breath. "I've looked everywhere for Jasmine. She's disappeared like magic!"_

 _"The girl is more trouble than she's worth," Jafar, so he was called, scoffed and swatted the bird away._

 _"You said you had things under control..." Maleficent glared harshly at them both. She was unimpressed by the lack of progress they had made while she was away. Although, it was mostly expected that they did not have the Keyhole found, but the princess was another story. Surely it wasn't that hard to take the girl._

 _Jafar glared back and planted his golden staff in the desert sand. He was hardly angered by his minion's failure to find Agrabah's princess, but the disapproving look from Maleficent was irritating. "Agrabah is full of holes for rats to hide in," he excused himself. "But why worry about Princess Jasmine? With her or without her, surely this world will be ours when we find the Keyhole."_

 _Frowning and not turning back to him, Maleficent stared out at the open desert beyond their reach. The plan she had in mind was clear in her head._

 _"We need all seven princesses of heart to open the final door," she revealed. "Any fewer is useless."_

 _"Well," Jafar narrowed his snake-like eyes and smirked, "if the princess is that important, we'll find her."_

 _Waving his hand out to his side, he called for some bandit-esque Heartless to come to his side. "Find Jasmine and bring her to me at one," he ordered them. Jafar sent Iago to lead them in the search, and he walked on ahead of Maleficent to look for the girl on his own._

 _"Don't steep yourself in darkness for too long," Maleficent gave him words of fair warning. "The Heartless consume the careless."_

 _However, her words were only met with laughter._

 _"Your concern is touching, but hardly necessary," Jafar turned back briefly with a wide grin. "Those children, however, could use the_

 _Both departed at once for their own works to do, but neither noticed the slim figure hiding behind one of the abandoned market booths..._

* * *

"So, this is Agrabah?" Riku wiped sweat from his brow as the sun's rays pounded us. We hadn't even walked a mile, and both of us were drenched in sweat. "Can't imagine living in this kind of a world."

I sighed and shielded my eyes from the sun with my hand. There was no telling when the desert ended. Maybe it went on forever.

Which way was which?

"Think Kairi could be out here?" I huffed.

The heat was intense, and I was eager to find a place for shelter to get out from under the harsh sunshine. Riku shrugged his shoulders, saying that it was possible. It was always possible for our friend to be anywhere. Of course it took some looking, but I was sure she wouldn't have been out in the middle of nowhere like us.

For miles, Riku and I walked through the desert in hopes of finding any signs of people. A village or town or someplace with some kind of population. That witch lady who was with us before went in the opposite direction that we were traveling in. Apparently it was because she had a hunch that she needed to be there. A hunch... What was that about?

Maybe hours passed before it actually seemed like we made any progress. I was tired and my feet were hurting from all the walking and sliding down sand dunes. My eyes were all watery from the sand flying into them because of the occasionally strong gusts of wind. There was a lot to complain about!

"Hey, you seeing that?"

All of a sudden, Riku stopped in his tracks. He pointed at something in the distance. I looked and searched with my eyes until finally spotting something blue. It wasn't a steady image because of the rising heat. My amber eyes tried to discern what it was, but it was way hard to focus.

"I wonder what it could be," I folded my sweat-covered arms. Squinting, I tried to make it out once more. A circle...? A little blue circle? There was a little bit of green around it. And then it dawned on me. "An oasis!"

"Oasis, huh?" Riku kicked some sand off his foot and smirked. "Sure beats walking around out here. It'll probably take some time to get anywhere out here, so let's check it out."

"If it's not a mirage, that is..." I slumped my shoulders and shook my head.

A lot of our time in the desert was spent running straight ahead to the potential oasis. Other times, we walked and struggled through the sands. We had the greatest time trying to climb over a dune. At the top, there was a gust of wind that nearly knocked me back down, but Riku helped me over until we got to the bottom of it.

The sun was already going down some time later, which meant that it took us hours to cover any ground. Our reward was so refreshing, though. It wasn't a mirage after all! The oasis was right in front of us, and we got there before dark.

I pushed through the green leaves of the oasis's vegetation and darted for the fresh pool of water in its center.

"Water!"

Dropping to my hands and knees, I splashed the clear liquid onto my face. It felt so cool to my skin, and energizing. Riku did the same and enjoyed the chill of the water. We'd be spending the rest of the night there, until the sun came up again.

There wasn't a lot to work with to make a comfortable spot to rest in, but leaning up against one of the trees did well to provide the slightest bit of comfort. As the sun went down, the desert heat decreased. The wind became chilly, and Riku found the resources he needed to start a small bonfire to keep us a little bit warmer.

I sat cross-legged on the opposite side, arms folded and eyes focused on the dancing flames. He was awfully quiet and poked at the burning wood with a long stick he found somewhere around the oasis. Riku looked a little sad when I saw his face. Perhaps it was the orange glow of the fire and the shadows playing tricks on me.

"I wonder how Sora's doing," I murmured and looked out into the darkness past the shrubs.

"Yeah..."


	36. Ventures in the Desert

_For hours and hours, the trio of friends had wandered through the vast desert of Agrabah in search of their friends and the Keyhole. They inadvertently ran into the Heartless when they reached a town of sorts. It was, however, like a ghost town. No person to be found. In the place of the townspeople were Heartless bandits and Shadows._

 _There search eventually led them to an alley. Sora was curious as to why he felt prompted to investigate. Something in his heart simply led him to make the decision. There must have been something special about it, he thought. Donald and Goofy merely followed, staying on the lookout for more enemies to fight._

 _"My mistake," the boy folded his arms, seeing that there was absolutely nothing in the alley._

 _He was about to turn around and head back the way they came, but then there was a soft gasp from behind some crates. Sora, Donald, and Goofy paused and looked around until their eyes spotted a head poking out from behind one crate._

 _"Who's there? Hello?"_

 _It was a girl's voice. Reluctantly, she came out of hiding and approached the trio. The three were stunned to have finally met one of the residents of Agrabah. She looked like one, anyway, according to her garbs. Neither one of them seemed intimidated by the other._

 _"Uh... Hi there!" Sora awkwardly waved at the black-haired girl. "Who are you?"_

 _"I'm Jasmine," she introduced herself to them, a little more comfortable being around the three boys. They didn't seem to be like the type to chase after her. Not like those strange fiends from before. It was obvious to her that they were not from Agrabah, so she very briefly told them about the place. "My father is the sultan of Agrabah. But... he has been deposed by Jafar, who now controls the city."_

 _"Um..." Sora folded his arms and thought for a moment. "So that makes you a princess?"_

 _"Wait... Who's Jafar?" Donald asked._

 _"You haven't heard of him?" Jasmine looked surprised. "He is the royal vizier, my father's adviser. He's gained evil powers and seized Agrabah! Oh... He's desperately looking for something. That I know. Er... something he calls a 'Keyhole'. Jafar caught me trying to escape and sent monsters after me, but then that man helped me."_

 _"Who helped you?" Sora asked, but the girl was so caught up in her own thoughts. She didn't hear him talking to her._

 _"We were hiding nearby, but he left a while ago to take care of something..." she said. "Oh, I hope Aladdin's alright."_

 _They could have gone on for hours in conversation by the looks of it. This young woman was hiding from something, but then they somehow brought out her more talkative side. But, no one was aware of the very dangerous figure standing right there with them._

 _"Aladdin?" the silver-tongued man smirked. "Where might I find this street rat?"_

 _"J-Jafar!" Jasmine cried out._

 _This only made him smile wider as if victory was his._

 _"Jasmine," he spoke like a snake, "allow me to find you more suitable company, my dear princess. These little rats won't do, you see."_

 _Sora held out his hand to the princess for her to go, "Jasmine, run!"_

 _He didn't have to tell her a second time. The Heartless appeared around Jafar as the young royal ran away for safety. In the meantime, Sora and the others readied themselves for a fight to defend the world against the evildoer and the Heartless. But, when Jafar saw the Keyblade in the boy's hands, he was surprised. Realization hit him. "Ah, the boy who holds the key... in the flesh," he hissed. "Get them!"_

 _The Heartless quickly and promptly leaped into action at the command. As did Sora, Donald, and Goofy._

* * *

Our opportunity to rest was apparently an opportunity for the Heartless to ambush us out of the blue at the oasis. It was dawn already when we were woken up, and dawn was barely even over when we got rid of the invaders. And as soon as they were all finished, we went on about our day with preparing ourselves for our the rest of our adventure in Agrabah's merciless desert.

It soon became dark again when we reached a part of the desert surrounded by ominous clouds. Although, it still looked like it was daytime miles away in the other direction. This was a peculiar place.

"Is that a giant tiger's head?" I pointed to a giant head of some kind of creature sticking out of the sand up ahead.

It looked so creepy in the darkness with its wide mouth agape and eyes glowing. The swirling clouds above and spiky rocks surrounding us helped in no way, except to intensify the sinister setting. It all gave me chills that Riku hopefully didn't notice.

"It's not real, so you don't need to be afraid," Riku chuckled, patting the sandy lip of the weird... thing. The tongue and teeth... and everything about it seemed so lifelike. I was nervous when Riku hopped inside the mouth as if it was nothing. "Come on! It looks like some kind of cave."

"What?" I blinked.

"Yeah?" he turned back around with a questioning look.

"You mean we're going inside?" I gulped quietly. "In that?"

"What about it?" Riku folded his arms.

"...Nothing..."

I reluctantly followed Riku inside the _cave_. Well, maybe there really was no reason to be so afraid. There were worse things that I've faced, like the Heartless. Those things were actually alive and could do me harm. Ha, this giant thing was just some sand sculpture. It was possible that whoever lived in this world wanted to keep trespassers out and away from something.

Treasure? Possibly.

...

At least an hour into our investigation of the mysterious cave, Riku and I had run into a series of... not Heartless. Traps. A lot of them, too.

Twice, we were nearly pulverized by giant boulders rolling out from some part of the surprisingly huge and decorative cavern. And, there were also torches on the walls that had the tendency to blow fire out at us. We didn't run into any arrows shooting out from who knew where. Yet.

"Phew..."

I was panting after escaping from yet another trap. It took a lot out of me, shockingly.

"Think there's something important in this place or what?" Riku half joked as he rested after the tedious venture.

We were both in agreement that there was something inside this cave that someone didn't want found.

I leaned back against the cold stone behind me and glanced around. The cave was so open. Over the edge of the walkway was nothing but a pit of darkness. Underneath that darkness was nothing but mystery that neither of us wanted to discover.

Instead, we continued on inside the cave until we came across a treasure room after avoiding many more traps. It confirmed our thoughts in the end.

There were heaps of treasure all around us in there. Gold and rare ores of many varieties. Anyone who had a sense of greed in them would surely be in heaven. But, seeing all of that sparked nothing in my eyes. Sure, it was an immense amount of treasure. There was just something more important that I wanted to find.

My still missing friend.

"Ouch!" Riku groaned.

"Hey!" I grumbled when something hit me in the back of the head, which must have hit Riku.

We looked around, only to find a small monkey picking up a red diamond from the golden ground. It made little noises like any kind of monkey as it investigated the treasure, and then it looked up at us. Immediately, it ran back behind one of the mounds of gold.

There was a gasp, and then a man's voice spoke up from somewhere inside the treasure room.

"Hey, what are you doing, Abu," the male said, coming out from behind the gold with an oddly shaped lamp in his hands. "This is no time to be messing around! We have to hurry out of here before those things show up again. I got the lamp, so put that thing back where you got it."

"Huh?"

"Who are you?"

"Uh oh!" the man jumped in surprise when he saw us, and he ran out of the area as fast as he could.

Riku and I stared after him as he fled. Confusion struck us both.

"Did we do something wrong?" I asked, but Riku only shrugged.

"Let's just keep looking around until we find Kairi," he said.


	37. Their Paths Don't Cross

_Agrabah on the other side was another extravaganza of its own._

 _Every which way, Sora encountered Heartless known as Bandits. They were the more sturdy type that could handle a good punch from Goofy's shield or a blast of Donald's fire magic. In this new world, the challenge became a whole lot tougher than before._

 _It must have been that evil power that Jafar gained. How did he get it? They could only wonder. If it was anything like Clayton, then the man must have surrendered himself to the darkness to gain access to great evil. But, when the three of them were together, they found it increasingly easy to overcome the trials of the desert._

 _Eventually, after finding a place to rest in an abandoned home, they found themselves running through the hot desert yet again after freeing a moving carpet from an overturned crate._

 _"It's heading for the desert!" was what Donald announced when it flew out of a giant hole in the side of the building._

 _They gave chase and wound up lost in the desert. It was so hot under the blazing sun. In an instant, their clothes were drenched with sweat._

 _On the plus side, the flying carpet was found again, and it was waiting for them. They watched the carpet curiously as it danced around and pointed towards some dark clouds in the distance._

 _"It wants us to come along?" Sora tried to translate. Somehow, the carpet nodded. "All aboard, I guess."_

* * *

"Ugh... How did this happen?" I groaned and rubbed my ankle.

It was a sprain, and a painful one at that. Looking up, I could see nothing but pitch black nothing. That fall was a lot deeper than I must have thought. There was a bright side, though. Freezing water broke my fall and lightened the blow to my legs. I made it out with only minor injuries.

As I sat on a mostly dry ledge above water, I thought back to our surprisingly eventful exploration of the cave. We learned a lot about the place as we took a chance at looking around.

It wasn't just a nameless cave. There was a sign somewhere that read... Cave of Wonders... We had an idea about why it was called that. Inside the cave was a maze of different chambers. The last one we were in happened to be the treasure room, where we ran into that one guy and his monkey.

We attempted to follow after them to hopefully discover someplace where Kairi might be, but then another trap sprang and launched us over the edge of the path. Riku was bold when he jumped in front of me. He took a direct hit from whatever it was trying to take us out, but we both went down. Thankfully, he and I were both doing alright. Just a little bruised up.

"I found some stairs up this way," Riku said, climbing out of the cold water to tell me about his findings in another part of the bottomless chamber. He was shivering slightly from the bite of the chilling swim. "Think you can swim out of here?"

"I think so," I said.

As detestable as it was getting back into the water, I went ahead and swam through it alongside Riku to figure out where the exit was. I silently hoped that we would be able to find one of those fire traps again to warm up a little bit. Just a little bit...

But, when we got to the stairs that Riku discovered, there was a rumbling noise. Something was going on up above, but we had no idea what.

* * *

 _After flying for an hour, Sora and the others came across an isolated part of the world in a spooky setting. Dark clouds, a huge mound of sand, and a sinking pit. Well, it was a pit of quicksand in the middle of the desert area. They were out of it, thankfully, but there was a young man caught up in it._

 _"Look out!" Goofy shouted at the top of his lungs when teams of Heartless sprung out of lumps of sand all around._

 _"More Heartless?" Sora summoned his Keyblade, pushing them back._

 _"It's an another ambush!" Donald declared, firing off some Thunder spells and Blizzard._

 _No matter how much they fought back, however, the Heartless kept coming. With Sora's help, the young man was able to escape the quicksand. He had a golden lamp in his hands, which he rubbed to summon a giant blue genie named Genie._

 _By the power of some kind of magic, all of the Heartless were eliminated. The five of them escaped from that place together and went back to the desert._

 _The young man got to know Sora, Donald, and Goofy. He even introduced himself as Aladdin, which took them by surprise. This guy was the one who Jasmine was talking about before they got attacked by Jafar's minion Heartless. And as for Aladdin, he was out looking for treasure. Things turned sour when the cave he was hunting in collapsed. He made it out with the lamp._

 _"There were a couple others in there, too," he said to Sora. "I'm not sure who they were, but they might have been some people hired to catch me."_

 _He was in the Cave of Wonders, so he said. That was where the magic carpet and lamp were found. Their conversation about it turned comedic when the Genie took over with explaining everything about the lamp- the legendary treasure sought after by many._

 _When Aladdin inquired about a wish that made him want to be a prince, the trio became curious. He talked about wanting to impress Jasmine._

 _"Oh, that's right!" Sora blurted out at some point while Aladdin was mumbling on and on about the princess. "She's in trouble, Aladdin!"_

 _"What?!" Aladdin's eyes widened. "Let's get going, then!"  
_

 _They made haste back to Agrabah to save Princess Jasmine. Along the way, of course, they enjoyed simple conversation about wishes and other things that piqued their interest. It was when they walked into the plaza of the main city that they came across teams of Heartless._

 _Back at Aladdin's house, the situation was explained. Jafar was indeed looking for the princess, as well as the Keyhole to the world. The plan was simple._

 _Stop Jafar and seal the Keyhole. The second part of the plan was mostly kept from Aladdin and Genie..._

* * *

I sighed and pressed by shoulder to the wall as Riku paced back and forth. After some time, we finally made it back to the top, but now we couldn't find the cave's exit. The original path we were sure we took was blocked off by debris, and there was no way around it.

"That quake must have been the cause," he figured, referencing the rumbling we felt while we were stuck in the underground cavern. "That's just great."

"There has to be another way out of here." I hoped that there was, anyway.

Riku exhaled and regained his composure. He agreed and took me by the arm to support me back through the Cave of Wonders. There was still so much that we were surprised to see. Like, how could a place like this actually exist? Who had the time to put it together to ensure that the mysterious treasures of the world could never be found? So many questions!

"Is your ankle feeling any better?" Riku asked me as we walked along another path slowly.

The long swim we took wasn't much of a help, but I could tell that the pain of my injured ankle was duller than before. I still had to limp, though. But now it was just an annoying ache and throbbing inconvenience.

I nodded and smiled, "Yeah, it'll be fine."

"Heh, wish I could fix it with my own hands," he shook his head and stared forward. "Sorry I can't do anything."

"Eh?" I raised a brow. "Don't worry about it. I've gotten hurt loads of times, and Donald healed me on occasion with his magic- Oh!"

"What's wrong?!"

Riku let me go when I suddenly stopped. His face showed a lot of concern for my wellness. I stood there in thought for a moment, until finally pounding my fist into my palm. How could I have forgotten? All this time, while we've been limping around all over the place, I could have healed us both with my magic.

"I've got just the solution!" I grinned wide and held my right hand over my head. "Cure!"

Over our heads and wrapping around our bodies were green vines of healing energy. The stinging in my ankle soon faded, and it felt as good as new. Riku was astonished when his cuts and bruises disappeared. _I just love magic_.

"Hey, that's useful," he said, admiring the handy work of my spell. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

"Uh, somewhere down the road," I tried to think back. "Maybe I should teach you a little bit."

"Be my guest."

Now that we weer back in top shape, we continued our search for a way out of the cave. We were a lot more careful about the traps lying around this time. No way did we want a repeat of falling into cold water.


	38. Unexplained Motives

_"You're setting your sights a little high, boy," Jafar hissed at Aladdin. To the sinister vizier's surprise, the Keyblade wielding boy and his friend managed to find out where he was. However, he had Jasmine in his clutches. It was just a matter of time before he found out where the Keyhole was._

 _Aladdin was anxious to rescue Jasmine from the evil man, and he was ready to use Genie's power to do it. He was horrified when he thought he misplaced it, and even more so when he saw that Jafar's bird, Iago, had taken it._

 _Forced to do what he did not want to do now that the lamp was in Jafar's hands, Genie used his own hands to keep the frightened princess away from the heroic group. He dropped her in a pot, which was possessed by a Heartless. "I bid you farewell, you rats," Jafar grinned darkly. "Come, Heartless. Attack!"_

 _Pots all over the place sprouted legs out their sides and came together to form into a single Heartless- the Pot Centipede. In one of those pots was Jasmine, so they knew they had to be careful when fighting back. It was a long and difficult fight, especially when the Heartless was thrashing its stingers about._

 _"Where's Jasmine?" Goofy frantically looked around after smashing the last pot._

 _"Hahahahaha! If you wish to try and save your dear princess, then come to the desert. But know this... Only failure awaits."_

 _Jafar's evil laugh echoed throughout the plaza. He was still present in the world, and Aladdin had a clear hunch concerning where the vizier was hiding. It could only be the Cave of Wonders. So, Aladdin clenched his fingers tightly around the hilt of his saber, and he urged Sora, Donald, and Goofy on to go and save Jasmine._

 _It was when they got to the part of the desert shrouded in mystery when the situation became even more sour._

 _The Cave of Wonders was most certainly opened to them when they returned, but it would not be accessed without a fight. Emerging from the hill of yellow sand, the tiger's head that made up the entrance to the cave howled and rampaged. It was possessed by the forces of darkness!_

 _Drawn out was the fight, but Sora put a stop to the Heartless-controlled beast. They quickly entered the cave to put a stop to the evil scheme of Jafar._

 _"Wack! Goofy!" Donald quacked when his longtime pal fell off the edge of the path they took. At some point, there was a splash of water. It must have meant that Goofy was okay, but they didn't want to just leave him down there wherever he was. Sora and Aladdin, and even Donald, jumped down after the shield hero to save him from whatever mess he fell into._

 _"I bet we can get out this way." Aladdin led the group after several minutes of trying to get out of the seemingly bottomless cavern. They swam everywhere through the water in hopes of finding a way out, only to end up in another part of the cavern. Some pillar they assumed had some kind of function was destroyed incidentally by Donald's magic when the magician lost his temper._

 _There was a quake, but nothing else happened. So, they went on about finding a staircase back to the upper part of the Cave of Wonders._

 _The traps were intense and everywhere, much to their dismay. But soon, they made it to the treasure room and unlocked the secrets of it after fighting off another load of Heartless. There was a secret room where Jafar was waiting with Genie and an unconscious Jasmine._

 _"Hmm..." Jafar was thoughtful when he pondered over his first wish to give to Genie. It only took a short moment to consider. "My first wish, Genie! Show me the Keyhole!"_

 _Ashamed, the genie did as he was commanded to do and made it appear by the snap of his fingers. A part of the cavern wall collapsed, revealing a small but still sizable hole. It was the Keyhole that Jafar was simply itching to find. He laughed maniacally at the sight of it. Now there was nothing this world could do to stop him from gaining all the power his heart desired._

 _Before they had arrived in an effort to stop him, Maleficent appeared before Jafar. She was rather displeased with the news she heard._

 _"That boy again?" she growled._

 _"He is indeed more persistent than I thought," Jafar narrowed his eyes. "Why not explain the situation to that boy, Riku? Doing so may actually prove useful to our-"_

 _They were interrupted by Sora and the others, who managed to overpower the Heartless._

 _Of course Jafar was a serious case to deal with, but Sora found himself gazing at the horned witch behind him. "Wait a second... Are you Maleficent?" he asked the woman, but she disappeared into a Corridor of Darkness. She had no intentions of answering his questions. Not that it really mattered at the moment. The princess needed saving, and she was right there beside Jafar._

 _"Jafar! Let Jasmine go!" Aladdin demanded._

 _"Not a chance, boy." Jafar sneered and pointed at the girl. "You see, she is a princess- one of seven who somehow hold the key to opening the door."_

 _"Open...?"  
_

 _"...the door?"_

 _Donald and Goofy were both thrown out of the loop, but they were not the only ones._

 _"You fools won't live long enough to see what lies beyond it," Jafar finished. "Genie, my second wish. Crush them!"_

* * *

The whole time we were exploring more of the Cave of Wonders, there were unexplained tremors occurring. It was hard to say what the cause was. My thought was that the one guy we came across before was trying to come back and get more treasure, only to have gotten himself stuck in some of the traps along the way.

But, no. That was a bit of a dumb assumption. How long ago was that? Also, the tremors were way too frequent. It didn't add up. Something else was going on, and we had no clue about what it was.

"Hey, something seems a little different up ahead," Riku pointed out when they made it back to where the treasure room was.

"Whoa!"

"Hey, hold on to me."

One last time, there was a violent quake that shook the entire cave. It seemed to come from up ahead, where the treasure room was. Something was going on down there, and it gave me a very bad feeling. I wanted to know what was going on. Without much protest, we both hurried along to see what the deal was. At the far end of the chamber where all of the treasure was, there happened to be an opening that wasn't there before.

It led us to another part of the Cave of Wonders that was so... open. Well, there was a gaping hole in the ground that nearly brought the whole place down. I inched closer to it, but Riku held me back with his hand on my shoulder.

"Be careful, why don't you?" he sighed and pulled me back. "It looks a little too dangerous to be checking out. Why don't we turn back now?"

"What?" I put my hands on my hips. It might have been my imagination, but I could have sworn that I heard voices coming from down there. The scorching heat that rose from the hole made the skin of my face tingle. It was probably a good idea to not get too close, but I was curious. Those voices sounded like Sora and the others. I might have been mistaken, though.

I took a few steps back and glanced around. My eyes stopped on something on the other side, and it was a major surprise.

"I-It's a Keyhole!" I gasped, pointing at the unmistakable Keyhole in the wall of the cavern.

"A what?" Riku folded his arms. "What are you talking about?"

"O-Oh... You don't know?" I turned back to Riku. Well, he wasn't there when Leon explained it. "It's hard to explain, but I'll tell you a little bit about it."

It took me a few minutes to get the point across, but he seemed to get the gist of it. Sort of.

We made our way around the hole, safely, so that we could get to the other side of the heated chamber. _If we seal it now, then there won't be a need to worry about this world anymore_. I was certain that it'd ease the load off of Sora's shoulders. He wasn't the only one holding onto the burden of the Keyholes. I had a Keyblade, too, so it had to be possible for me to handle it this time.

"Kara, look," Riku pulled me up onto the stone platform and gestured to an unconscious girl lying on the ground. She wore blue clothes and had long, black hair. It looked like she was a native to this world. Some kind of royalty, maybe. Riku went over to her and knelt down by her side to check up on her. "It looks like she just passed out."

"What could she be doing all the way down here?" I wondered. "Maybe we should get her out of here first."

"My, what a fine idea," a woman's voice from behind caught me off guard. I jumped under my skin and jolted around. It was that oddly dressed lady who brought us to Agrabah. Her name was still a mystery to me. "It would be wise to do so before this cavern collapses. The battle down below is... a bit intense."

"Battle?!" I turned my head around, but a hand caught my chin and pulled my head the other way. Her long fingernails were pinching my cheeks a little too much.

"It is of no concern to you, child," she said with a clear frown. "Riku, dear, take the princess back to Hollow Bastion. Through there."

A black portal opened in front of the Keyhole by command, much to my surprise. I swatted her hand away and rubbed at the stinging around my mouth. That was some move. It annoyed me a lot that she did that. "What's the big idea?" I questioned her.

"Oh, dear, I simply wish to keep you from getting into a troubling matter," she claimed. Using her staff, she pointed at the opening. "There is a man who has become corrupted by the darkness. If you go down there, then there is no guarantee that I will be able to save you from his evil clutches."

"But... can't the three of us handle him ourselves?" I furrowed my brow. "You seem awfully powerful. Riku and I can handle ourselves just fine, too."

"Hero, indeed," the woman chuckled, but she shook her head. "The answer is no. Once the Heartless catch the scent of darkness in his heart, then they will take care of it. Now... There is something that I must go and do. Riku, take the girl. And, as for you... I have something that I want for you to do, as well."

Riku seemed a little reluctant in picking the passed out girl up, but he did as he was asked and went through the portal. I was left alone with the woman. She was smirking. I could have sworn that she was. And her eyes were glued on me the entire time we stood there, waiting for Riku to leave.

"W-What do you want?" I took a cautious step back.

"It's a simple task, really," she chuckled again. "You've done well to help us find the location of this world's Keyhole. I will let it be for the time being until we can find the others. Another world will I send you to. Go and see to it that it is found and... kept safe."

"That's a little suspicious..." I clenched my teeth.

"Perhaps, but the worlds are in danger," she went on to say. "We have no choice but to leave this world as it is. But, that is of no concern to m- us. There will be another time when we may return. For now, we move forward. Besides... it would be best to try and cover more ground in finding your dear friend."

"I... I guess you're right." It was hard to agree with, especially when this woman made it hard to trust her. "Alright, where am I going, exactly?"

* * *

 _The battle with Jafar was incredibly difficult. He had used his final wish to be transformed into a genie, just like Genie. It was especially tough when the heroes had to try and get the lamp while dodging fiery rocks being thrown by the genie Jafar._

 _They were able to overcome the obstacle, though, with their teamwork. Some shots of an advanced Blizzard spell did well to keep him at bay, and they soon defeated him. When Sora got a hold of the blackened lamp, he was able to command Jafar to return to it. The fight was over after that, but something else troubled them more when they returned to where the Keyhole was._

 _"Jasmine?!" Aladdin became increasingly panicked when Jasmine disappeared. "Jasmine!"_

 _Sora had sealed the Keyhole, and the cavern was ready to collapse as a result. They were all forced to leave the place behind before it caved in. With the real Genie back by their side, they managed to escape on the flying carpet and left the Cave of Wonders to return to Aladdin's home._

 _"So, Jasmine's no longer in Agrabah...?" Aladdin slumped down against the wall in disbelief. He was still determined to save her, however. "Sora, we have to go and save her!"_

 _"S-Sorry, I can't take you with me," Sora lowered his head._

 _As much as they wanted to, the boundaries of the worlds could not be disturbed so carelessly. They knew that well enough to avoid taking such a step, but Aladdin was crushed. There was no choice but to not meddle in the affairs of other worlds like that. Not like the villains that kidnapped Jasmine._

 _"We'll go and find her, Aladdin!" Sora said, an adamant flame burning in his heart. "I promise you."_

 _It was difficult to let the trouble go to this boy, Aladdin thought. But he had to put his trust in someone if he wasn't able to go find Jasmine himself. Genie reminded him that there was still one wish left that he had. Of course, he did use it to free Genie from his binds as a genie. Freedom. But, one favor was asked of him- to go and help Sora find the princess._

* * *

 _It was no surprise to Maleficent that Jafar had been defeated by the young Keyblade master. Hades, who had not yet been in a struggle with the youth, was very disappointed in the turn of events. The flame-haired god of the Underworld let out a drawn out sigh._

 _"That smarmy vizier could've had 'em- if someone had stuck around to give him a hand," he complained, shooting a glare at Riku._

 _The silver-haired boy didn't bother to look at the god. Rather, he stared straight ahead and partially ignored him. "I did my part," he said, gesturing to the girl lying on the ground behind them. "I brought the princess, didn't I?"_

 _Maleficent nodded and even took to defending the way things turned out with a bit of revelation, "Jafar was beyond help, consumed by his own hatred. One should beware of letting it burn too fiercely."_

 _She titled her head back and let out a breath. The silent gesture was enough to get the message into Hades' head. But, he was quick to defend himself._

 _"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he waved his hands. "Lighten up. I'm as cool as they come, okay? By the way, kid, have we got something special for you."_

 _"What do you mean?" Riku narrowed his eyes at Hades and Maleficent._

 _"We had a deal, yes?" the witch smirked. "You help us, and we grant you your wish..."_

 _An image of Kairi appeared above the round table, replacing the image of Jafar's defeat._

 _"Kairi!" Riku's slammed down on the table, eyes wide._

 _"Go to her," Maleficent ordered him. "Your vessel is waiting."_

 _Entering the chamber, a wig-wearing pirate stepped forward. He was hardly impressed to see Riku, but he was told to help the boy due to his services. With a huff and reveal of his hook for a hand, the pirate sneered at the boy and made an attempt at showing him who was in charge._

 _"Just remember, this is no pleasure cruise," he said. "It won't be a pleasant voyage."_

 _"Why... Why are you doing all this for me?" Riku questioned Maleficent. He was well aware of how suspicious she was. It was becoming a little more clear to him that something was up. "What's the catch?"_

 _"Catch? What's the catch?" Maleficent turned around. "Silly boy. You're like a son to me. I only want you to be happy."_

 _He was unconvinced. Riku slapped her hand away and stepped back._

 _"I seriously doubt that," he gritted his teeth._

 _"Believe what you will," she said, straightening her composure. "But, lest we forget, I kept my end of the bargain."_

 _"Fine..." Riku turned his back on her to depart for Kairi's location. But, he stopped partway and peered over his shoulder. His brows knitted together as a thought crossed his mind. Worry filled his mind and heart as he mulled over it in his head. "What happened to Kara? Where is she?"_

 _"Ah, your little friend who helped us, too..." Maleficent smiled._

 _"Where is she?" Riku asked again, becoming a little less patient as the seconds passed._

 _"Worry not, boy," the witch spoke. "The girl is merely doing a favor for us in another world."_


	39. Monster

There were no words to describe how irritating it was sitting in a small boat in stormy weather. Out at sea. I never thought that I would be put in this kind of situation, but it happened. All because I agreed to take on a favor from that lady with the horns and staff.

The Keyhole to the world needed to be found, was what she told me. I wasn't even sure what this world was called. Maybe it didn't matter. Heartless were already causing a ruckus around the whole world, and it was at a dangerous point. Even with the Keyhole being sealed, the monsters were as determined as ever to take the hearts of the unsuspecting.

"Please, you must help me find my boy!" an elderly man pleaded as I fought off the last wave of Heartless. He was someone who I had met just a short time ago in a workshop. The Heartless were trying to steal his heart, too, I was sure of it. But, I got there just in time to save him.

"I-I'm sorry, but I don't think there's anything we can do right now," I frowned, trying to explain to him that there were way too many Heartless outside. It would be too dangerous for him to blindly walk around. I felt so sorry for him that he lost his son, and I felt even worse thinking about the possibility of him being taken by the Heartless.

"My son... My only son..." he dropped to his knees, holding a hand over his heart.

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" I told him, taking his hand in mine. "We might run into him on the way to someplace safe!"

"Oh."

He was groaning and visibly disturbed by the potential fate of his only family, but the man still ran with me down a sandy beach. I glanced back on occasion to see if the Heartless were still coming, and they were. Thankfully, there was a boat that we could climb into to escape from them.

It was a miracle that they didn't follow us into the water, but that was just the Heartless that roamed around on land. There were still flying Heartless to deal with. However, my magic proved to be good enough to take care of them. I was glad that there were not too many to handle. We eventually made it to a smooth sailing pace without the Heartless to bother us.

I sat down across from the old man with my hands clasped together on my lap. He looked tearful as he paddled the boat. The pain in his heart must have been so terrible. What could I do, though?

"I mustn't give up hope," he shook his head and wiped away the tears. "Oh... Er... I'm so very sorry, lass. My name is Geppetto. Might I know your name?"

"Call me Kara." I nodded to him with a kind smile. Geppetto was very nice even though he was going through a rough time. It was hard to believe that he was still holding up after being attacked by Heartless. "Also, thanks for helping me out back there."

"It was my pleasure!" Geppetto smiled. "You are a very strong girl. I must say, I am quite surprised. Where are you from?"

"O-Oh, nowhere special," I tried to laugh it off. "Just someplace far away... Very far away and, uh... foreign!"

"Hm, I wonder where it could- Ah!"

Geppetto was thoughtful about it for a moment, but then his face twisted with fright. The light of the moon shining on his face dimmed as a great shadow cast over him. I turned my head around in time to catch site of a monstrous creature barreling towards us in the water. It's mouth opened wide as it got closer.

"What is that?!" I squeaked.

"It can't be..." Geppetto gulped as the creature jumped out of the water and into the air. I was shocked to see that it was a giant whale. "Monstro!"

The last thing that I remembered seeing was darkness. Something hard struck the back of my head and knocked me down. I couldn't hear Geppetto anymore, and the crashing water drowned out everything else...

 _"You have to believe me...! There really is a monster!"_

* * *

 _"We finally got out of that place!" Donald relaxed in his seat as the gummi ship blasted off into the deep dark space of the ocean of stars. He was enjoying being back in the pilot's seat after trudging through the unbearable deserts of Agrabah for so long. "Now, then, let's head to the next world and find the king."_

 _"Hey, where's Genie?" Goofy looked around._

 _The big blue genie was sent with them to tag along in the search for Jasmine, but he suddenly vanished since leaving the world. He went ahead and sat in the seat next to Sora when they last saw him. Genie was excitable about it, of course. How it didn't bother Donald was a mystery. Sora was positive that it might turn into meddling if he ventured outside the gummi ship._

 _Genie was gone now. Instead of the blue guest sitting next to him, Sora found a tiny blue gem in the seat. It just... appeared._ _He picked it up in his hands and wondered about where it came from. But, as he held onto it, a feeling of familiarity bubbled in his heart._

 _"I guess this means we don't have to worry about meddling," Sora stated, holding up the gem for the others to see._

 _"Huh..." Goofy folded his arms. "Must be some kind of magic. Donald?"_

 _"It wasn't me," Donald shrugged his shoulders and went back to piloting. "Anyway, get back in your seat, SORA!"_

 _"Fine, fine..." the boy huffed, sitting back down and buckling his seat belt._

 _About an hour into the journey, things were running smoothly. There were plenty of asteroids to fly around but very few enemy vessels. It was a little surprising, until they came across a humongous creature in an unknown part of space. It was no gummi ship, nor anything of that sort._

 _"Wack! It's a whale!"_

 _"It's Monstro!" Jiminy shrieked at the sight of the giant whale._

 _Everyone was alarmed when Monstro appeared, and they were dreading every moment when they tried to escape with him right behind them. Efforts put into getting out of there was futile. The giant whale chomped down on the gummi ship, and there was nothing they could do about it._

* * *

 _The islands were so very peaceful early in the morning. It was the perfect time to play around in the sand or at the tree house. Kara joined Sora and Riku in their shared boat and played around until they got bored. The playing soon became wrestling around, and then that turned into walking and talking._

 _It was a bright and breezy day. Just how they liked it._

 _"It's true!" Sora said loudly as he walked with his two friends. "I saw it with my own eyes!"_

 _"You sure you didn't just hear it this time?" Riku rolled his eyes._

 _"He sounds pretty serious to me," Kara cocked her head to the side and admired the fiery sparkle in the brown-haired boy's eyes. "Yup! Really serious."_

 _Young Sora grumbled and stamped his foot on the wood of the tree house's walkway. Neither of them seemed very believing of his claims, and it was upsetting. He knew very well what it was that he saw. If he could get them to see it for themselves, then they would have no choice but to believe him._

 _"What difference does it make?" Sora huffed in response to Riku's taunting._

 _"There's a huge monster in that cave, I tell you!" he exclaimed again._

 _Kara sighed and climbed down the creaking ladder after them. "Okay, then suppose there really is a monster at the end of the tunnel..." she began, making her way over to the location of a hidden tunnel. The vines covering it made it hard to see inside. "Are we supposed to beat it by ourselves? Huh, Sora?"_

 _The trio of friends stood in front of the entrance to the greatest mystery in the world. Riku was, more or less, eager to see if it really did hide a monster. The girl standing right next to him was a tad bit hesitant, but she felt confident with Riku being there, too._

 _Sora grinned and punched at the air, "No problem. The three of us together can do it!"_

 _Suddenly, there was a low growling coming from inside the secret tunnel. Sora's ears perked, and he leaned in close to hear it better. A wide smile stretched from ear to ear. This was just what he was waiting for. Proof that there was truly a monster on the island! His friends were definitely going to be stunned by his discovery._

 _"Listen! There!" he eagerly pointed at the shadows. Nothing to see but the sound was faint. "Can you hear it growling?"_

 _Unsure of what to do exactly, Riku and Kara looked at each other. They shrugged their shoulders and moved in a little closer to try and make out the noise._

 _"Is that..." Kara began, but Sora planted his hand firmly over her mouth._

 _"Shh, quiet."  
_

 _She had a hard time making it out due to the roaring of the waterfall nearby, but there was definitely something inside that tunnel. They had only been part of the way through there. Never to the end. It was possible that Sora was actually right._

 _"We've gotta be careful," Sora spoke up again, leading the way inside._

 _The three children crawled under the hanging vines and through the bushes to get to the other side. As dark as it was, they were able to make their way through just fine with the aid of tree roots overhead. It stretched all the way inside the cave, up until it opened up into a small clearing._

 _Sunlight poured in from above. Riku stepped forward with a smirk on his face. His aquamarine eyes could see the blue sky, but there was no monster to see._

 _"See that?" Riku held out his arms in a wide gesture to the empty cave. "It was just the wind making that howling sound. Not a monster."_

 _"Aw, man..." Sora, bummed out, sat down on a boulder to the left of Riku. "I wish it was a monster!"_

 _"What? But wouldn't that be dangerous?" Kara folded her arms as she glanced around. Being chased around by those two boys was excitement enough. It was better than being eaten by a real monster. "...Huh?"_

 _The girl's eyes focused on something up ahead. Something that she had never noticed before._

 _"What's that over there?" she wondered, walking passed the boys to investigate._

 _"A window?" Riku thought, shaking his head a moment later. "It might be a door. It won't open."_

 _Their hands flew to the wooden structure in the wall. It greatly resembled a door, but there was no knob or handle. It couldn't be pulled open. Even when they were both pushing on it, it didn't budge. Both of them were fascinated by it for the moment. Yet, when they rejoined Sora, who was looking all over the place for something more interesting, he acted turned off._

 _"Geez, is that all there is?" he let out a drawn out groan._

 _"What did you expect?" Riku asked the other boy. "This place is so boring. Right, Kara?"_

 _"Eh, not really," the girl disagreed. They looked to her, confused by how she was so amused. Kara was scribbling something on the big boulder with a small rock. When she was finished, she stepped back and showed it to them. "Done!"_

 _Her poor drawing made them laugh._

 _"I-Is that a face?!" Riku tried to stifle his laughter._

 _"It looks like Riku!" Sora pointed at the silver-haired boy._

 _"Funny." Kara sighed._

 _As soon as all of the laughter died down, after both boys got a light punch to the shoulder, Riku became quiet and thoughtful. He looked to his friends and wondered about a peculiar thought that had been in his mind for a while now._

 _If he brought it up with them, surely they would agree. They were his best friends, after all._

 _"Hey, Sora... and Kara," he started, balling up his hands into small fists. He had their attention. "When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures. Not this kid stuff!"_

 _"That might be a lot of fun!" Kara immediately agreed to it._

 _"Sure," Sora nodded, too. "But isn't there anything fun to do now?"_

 _On their way out, Kara remembered something that they could do._

 _"Hey, you know the new girl at the mayor's house?" she asked them, and the boys nodded._

 _"Did you hear..."_


	40. No Fun in Getting Eaten

**A/N** I don't know why, but it seems the only kind of fic I can do is something with Kingdom Hearts. Does anyone else feel like that from time to time? Like... I have an image of another kind of fanfic, but it never gets down on paper. (._. )**

 **Kara: Eh... It's probably just writer's block. Can we get on with the story?**

 **Me: It's not that easy!**

 **Kara: But I want to know what happens!**

 **Me: You'll find out at some point.**

 **Sora: Now?**

 **Me: Oi... Quiet you.**

* * *

I sighed and massaged my temples with my fingers. _This is no fun_ , I thought. _Being eaten by a dumb whale._

The boat I was on with Geppetto was wrecked and torn apart. The splintering wood lied around the mouth of Monstro, the whale, along with the wreckage of other boats. My assumption was that Monstro had a tendency to eat sailors. It made sense. Unfortunately... it stunk like rotting fish so bad.

Geppetto was busying himself with organizing his things. In spite of what had just happened, he was able to make the remains of a broken ship like home. _Oh, is that a fish bowl? A fish, too. I think I saw it on the boat when we escaped_. I observed from the plank I was sitting on. It was amazing that he found a variety of things in all of the wreckage. But, then again, it was also super cold, and we had no supplies to build a fire. The wood all over the place was also soaked from the water.

"So, you're name is Kara," Geppetto sat down next to me, his legs hanging over the opposite side of the plank. "I thank you again for all that you've done to help me."

"It was nothing." I smiled. "But, we still got swallowed up by Monstro."

"I'm certain that it was bound to happen..." he said, lowering his head. "No man has had any luck escaping the monster of the sea."

That was surprising. _Why do people still sail, then?_

"...Could it be possible that my son was..." Geppetto paused in thought. He got up to his feet slowly and paced the deck. I pulled my right knee close and watched his pacing. Frequently, he mumbled about something or other. "My poor boy. Pinocchio, where are you?"

"P-Pinocchio?" I blinked in surprise.

That little puppet boy from Cid's shop was Geppetto's son?

He was very surprised by my reaction and inquired about how I knew Pinocchio.

"Well, um..." I tapped on my chin, trying to think of something simple. "We bumped into each other some time ago. Anyway! So, he's your son?"

"Why yes," Geppetto smiled warmly. "As a woodcarver... Ah. I created Pinocchio out of the finest wood and a father's love. The kind fairy used her power to give the puppet I made life. He's a real boy, you know!"

"Sure acts like it..." I giggled. Our conversation went on for a time, until Geppetto got tired.

It was his luck that he found an old mattress in the ship's debris. As gross as it was, he took his old man's nap on it.

"Gotta find a way out of here," I muttered, dropping down onto a large piece of wood floating in the water. I took one of the extra lanterns lying around for a source of light. Maybe he wouldn't mind me wandering around without him. There weren't any Heartless in here, so it was probably safe enough to go out a little ways and explore Monstro. Oh... The inside of Monstro. So gross.

"You and me both."

"Yeah, really," I nodded.

"So how'd you get in a place like this?"

"Oh, same as you... I was on a boat with some old guy," I began to tell the tale of how Monstro ate me and the boat. "This huge wha- Huh? Hold on a second."

 _Something isn't right here_ , I thought to myself as I pushed myself along using the debris as support. Stopping, I turned around to see just who it was I was talking to. No way it could have been Geppetto. He should have been sleeping, and he wasn't sneaky enough to catch me by surprise. It didn't even sound like him, anyway.

"Who..."

I froze.

"Riku!" I exclaimed. "Did you get eaten, too?"

"A while ago," he said. "We made a stop on another world to do something, then this huge whale came out of nowhere and ate the ship. You know. Same as you."

"Heh, cool..." I smiled sheepishly. "I-I mean... Not cool!"

"We'd better find a way out of here," Riku suggested, bringing us to a spot out of the water.

The ship where Geppetto was staying was out of sight now, but I could still see a glint of light in the darkness from his lantern.

Riku led the way through an opening. The ground was so squishy when we walked on it. _What is this? The intestines or something?_

Wherever we were, it was pretty spacious. There wasn't any acid, so it wasn't the stomach but another part of Monstro's insides. For the sake of my own stomach and not wanting to puke, I was simply going to refer to it as a chamber. It sounded less disgusting, but the bubbly noises made it kind of terrible.

I held the lamp up all over in hopes of finding anything to help us in our efforts to get out. There was one on a thing that looked like a ledge. Riku climbed it and lifted me up there with him, and we made our way up to the top to overlook the rest of the area. With the dim, blue glow, we could see quite a bit. It was kind of cool.

"Hey, wait for me!"

"Is that a puppet?" Riku asked.

"Pinocchio?" I blurted.

His sudden appearance was a surprise. The last place I had seen him was Traverse Town. I know he didn't run off to follow us with that lady. He was left with Jiminy and the others... I shook my head and grabbed Pinocchio's hand when he reached for me. Pulling him up to our level, I sighed and put my hands on my hips. Geppetto was looking for him, yet here he was with us.

Pinocchio, the puppet boy, was smiling mischievously, "Can I come with you?"

"A talking puppet..." Riku mumbled with a closed hand pressed against his lower lip. "It even moves on its own."

"Hey! I'm a real boy!" Pinocchio pouted. He even gave Riku a good kick to his shin.

"Yeesh," I winced.

"Ow..." he whined. "Go back, would you? This isn't the time to play around. Come on, Kara."

"Pinocchio, go back to your pops," I said, putting my hand on the puppet boy's head. "We're going to find a way out of here."

"Aww," Pinocchio slumped his shoulders.

 _"Pinocchio...?"_

 _"Pinocchio...!"_

Voices down below echoed throughout the chamber. They came from somewhere behind us, down below where we had just come from. Riku paused in his steps, as did I. Pinocchio was going to walk on, but then he ran into Riku's leg and fell down.

Riku took the lantern from me and hung it over the edge. Its small light illuminated a portion of the area enough so that we could see three figures walking together. I wasn't sure if I should have been happy or bothered, but it was good to see them again. Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Just like us, they were swallowed up by Monstro.

"Pinocchio!" called Donald. "Where are you?!"

"We're here!"

Pinocchio answered their call without hesitation, directing their attention to our position. I smiled and gave them a small wave, but none of them seemed to notice. _Ah, I guess they can't see with the light hanging too low. Either way, it's good to see them again._


	41. No Time for Games!

**A/N** So, readers...**

 **What has been your favorite theme music from the Kingdom Hearts series? Mine might have to be from the End of the World or Hollow Bastion worlds. Both are so good! No, wait... all of them!**

 **Leave your answer in a review! And also tell me about your favorite bits in this fanfic.**

* * *

"What are you doing, Pinocchio?" Sora asked the puppet boy. "Come on, let's go back."

The Sora who was standing down below looked and sounded irritated, in a way. Unlike the last time that I saw him, he seemed a little more mature and serious. It may have just been the particular situation that we were in, though. I had no doubt that the goofball friend of mine was still in there.

"You know, Geppetto's awfully worried about you," Goofy added.

They urged for him to go back to where it was safe, and it would have been a lot better if he did. However, in spite of their effort to take him back, the stubborn marionette shook his head and took a step back. I frowned, Sora glared, and Donald was impatiently tapping his foot as he usually did when things didn't go his way.

A nerve in Sora must have been struck. He stamped his foot firmly and raised his voice in an attempt to sound more demanding.

"Pinocchio, stop fooling around!" he said loud and clear. The tone of Sora's voice actually startled Pinocchio. "This is no time to be playing games!"

"Games..." Riku muttered under his breath as the three of them turned their backs to return to wherever it was they had come from. Pinocchio was about to follow along, finally giving in to the demands. But, before the little puppet could jump down, Riku suddenly took hold of his arm and let the light shine more on us. I wasn't sure what was going on anymore. "But Sora, I thought you liked games. Or... are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?"

"Huh?" Sora froze for a second and turned around. His eyes locked onto Riku, and then flashed to me in surprise. "Riku! Kara! Wh-What are you two doing here?!"

"We got eaten by a whale..." I mumbled. "Good to see you again!"

We slid down to their level, but Riku had a tight hold on Pinocchio still. He stepped around Sora toward a hole, or another path through Monstro's inner chambers.

Riku chuckled and set Pinocchio down next to him, "We're just playing around with Pinocchio."

"You know what I mean!" Sora shook his head and pouted. "What about Kairi? Did you find her?"

"Maybe," Riku shrugged his shoulders. "Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know."

"Wait... Did you?" I looked to Riku, eager to know.

"Come on!" Sora impatiently pressed for answers.

"I'll be waiting for you," Riku smirked and winked at me, then he led Pinocchio away from us and made a run for it.

The four of us were left behind, just like that. I went ahead of Sora and the others to try and catch up, but it was no use. Riku was out of sight, and I couldn't see the light of the lantern anymore. He was a lot faster than I thought.

 _What is going on here?_ I wondered.

Riku was acting all weird for some reason. Was there something wrong? Could he have been hiding something from Sora? From me? That was what it felt like to me, at least. It was worrying and not just a little bit. To make matters worse, he and Pinocchio were running through uncharted territory. Monstro's guts were not a playground. Too unpredictable to be safe.

"Look out!"

"Huh? W-Wah!" I yelped, jumping back from an attack from a ghost-like creature. It's claws nearly struck me, but I managed to avoid it.

Thanks to Goofy's shield flying so valiantly through the air, I was saved. He beat it in one hit. That ghost thing had a red and black emblem on its chest, making it a Heartless. _No time to catch up, I guess_. The Heartless just appeared and surrounded us. It had been a long time since I fought alongside Sora, Donald, and Goofy. But, we kicked butt and took care of all the Heartless in no time.

"Kara, where have you been?" Sora rushed over to me after all of the fighting was over. I was nearly knocked over by one of his mighty bear hugs, and I staggered back while holding him. "How did you get here?!"

"It's a long story," I smiled at Sora, playfully poking him in the forehead. "And, like I said before, I got eaten by a whale. I was exploring another world and found a Keyhole, and then I ended up in Monstro."

"Good going, Kara!" Goofy ah-hyuked and ruffled my hair.

"Is it okay?" Donald asked.

"Yup! It's all sealed, and the Heartless aren't getting into it anytime soon," I nodded.

I lightly pushed Sora off of me and turned around to see which direction Riku ran off to. He was nowhere to be seen, and the Heartless finally showed their face. No telling what it meant, but something was going on. It was doubtful that a Keyhole was inside a whale. Maybe the Heartless were after its heart?

"Let's go and find Riku," I motioned for them to join me in the search for our friend. "Together?"

"Together," Sora smiled. "He's gotta know something about Kairi, right?"

"I think so." He and I had been searching long and hard for our best friend. Then there was that time when we went our separate ways when that witch told us to, so I assumed that he was still looking for her. Hope burned in my heart. Riku must have had a clue about her whereabouts.

* * *

 _"Why do you still care about that boy?" Maleficent questioned Riku as the silver-haired teen stepped into a dimly lit chamber. She was disappointed in what she had seen, even more so when she saw that Kara was not with him after the stunt he had pulled. Still, she knew that it would all turn out as she planned. "He has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and his new companions, after all."_

 _Her efforts to stir up something in his heart seemed to be a failure, at first. Riku looked down when she walked by. Perhaps something had happened inside him as a result of her... meddling._

 _"I don't," he said shortly with a hint of a tremble in his voice. "I was just messing around with him a little."_

 _"Oh, really? Of course you were," Maleficent dramatically asked, raising her thin brows curiously. It was amusing for her, but she had to give a warning. "Beware of the darkness in your heart, boy. The Heartless prey upon it... Do not be careless."_

 _"Mind your own business," Riku yelled back at her as she disappeared through a Corridor of Darkness._ _He was not distraught, but it irritated him that she was being so involved with him. "Whatever. First things first."_

 _Where was Pinocchio? That strange little puppet escaped, so now he had to go and look for it. Things were going so well, he mentally mocked the situation._

 _Kara hadn't caught up with him, either. It was a debate in his own head, whether he wanted to find her or Pinocchio first. Well, he knew Kara would be looking for them both. He believed that she was smart enough to find her way to him eventually._

 _Would Sora get in the way? He thought it to be possible._

 _"Ah..." Riku paused in his footsteps, hearing voices behind him._

* * *

"Wait a second, Pinocchio!" Jiminy shouted at the top of his lungs when we caught up to Pinocchio.

The pain of trying to catch Pinocchio was almost through, but then he slipped past Riku as soon as we followed him through another chamber. Rather than stop him, Riku simply watched and stood in our way. I skidded to a stop and walked over to him, but the others stayed a little further behind.

 _I thought I saw that witch_ , I thought back to just a short while ago. _Or maybe I was just seeing things. It did sound like her, though. Maybe she was just here for a little bit. What could she be doing in a place like this? And with Riku..._

"There you are." I had my hands on my knees and was panting after all the running. Quickly catching my breath again, I pouted at Riku. He had a small smile on his face when he looked back at me. "What was that all about?"

"Riku!" Sora called out. "What's the matter with you? What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you're doing?"

The smile on Riku's face faded in an instant when Sora blurted all those questions out. He actually looked a little angry, or maybe it was just my imagination.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing, Sora," Riku said in a stern voice, putting a hand on his hip. The light in his eyes seemed to vanish. "You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days... Do you even want to save Kairi?"

"Riku!" I was taken back by the tension between the two boys. He ignored me, though.

"I-I do," Sora replied in a soft tone, lowering his head.

 _"WWWAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"_

Putting an end to the argument were Pinocchio's loud wails from deeper inside Monstro's intestines. No doubt, Pinocchio was in some kind of danger. Riku rushed off ahead of everyone to see to it that everything was okay. I followed behind with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. My supply of potions of ethers was running low, but they were quick to replenish it so that nothing could go wrong.

I paid little mind to the possibility of getting hurt. Most of my attention was on the giant Heartless in front of us. Riku, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I stood face to face with it. The real trouble that lied in wait for us inside Monstro's bowels was that thing.

Its arms were tentacles, and they had spikes on the end. This Heartless holding Pinocchio captive was like a parasite- a _Parasite Cage_.

"You two up for this?" Riku asked Sora and I.

"No problem," Sora nodded, hunkering low with his Kingdom Key in hand. "Let's do this!"

"I'm right there with you," I said, ready with my own Keyblade.

Riku brought out his dark sword and smirked. The battle began immediately with the Parasite Cage swinging its arms wildly. Pinocchio screamed for us to get him out of it, and we did our best. Things turned out to be a little problematic when Sora got thrown off to the side, having been hit by one of the tentacle arms.

He was okay, though. Donald did him a favor and healed him while Goofy was protecting them both. When the Heartless let its guard down, we all went in to take it out. It had no chance trying to defend against us all.

The Heartless hissed and wobbled in defeat.

We thought it'd all be over, but then it latched onto some of Monstro's nerves. Monstro reacted to it, and there was a loud rumbling in the whale's bowels. To our unpleasant surprise, the Heartless spit Pinocchio out into a hole that opened up.

"Not on my watch," Riku gritted his teeth and jumped in after Pinocchio without hesitation.

"Wait!" Sora tried to stop him, but it was too late. Not only had Riku and Pinocchio disappeared, but the Heartless escaped, too.

"Riku!" I shouted, hurrying after him. "Keep up, Sora!"

I jumped in after Riku, unaware of what waited for me at the bottom of the slimy slide.


	42. The Wrong Side

**A/N** I know, another author's note so soon after just publishing the last chapter. But! I've got good news that everyone probably already knows!**

 **Kara: Well?!**

 **Sora: Spit it out!**

 **Me: I will!**

 **Riku: Hey, guess what? That new game is coming out in a couple of weeks.**

 **Everyone: *GASP***

 **Me: But I was supposed to...**

 **Kara: Aren't you a little behind schedule with this story, then?**

 **Me: I'm working on it! It's not like we're going to be left in the dust or anything. I own copies of all the games! Progress will be progress, even after the next release!**

* * *

I landed back in Monstro's mouth and fell onto a plank of wood with a thud. My legs took in the impact, and it hardly hurt. The others hadn't dropped down just yet. They might have gotten stuck somewhere along the way. _Looks like Geppetto got this place all lit up_. I took note of the lamps all around. I could actually see where everything was now.

"My son!" I heard the elderly man cry out from where the old ship was sitting.

Climbing to the top of a stable wood pile, I looked out to see Riku picking up Pinocchio. The puppet was unconscious, it looked like, but Riku wasn't returning him to Geppetto. He jumped from the ship and climbed up to a higher point to avoid Geppetto.

I jumped from platform to platform, whatever I could stand on, to get to Riku's point. A couple of places were a bit too high for an ordinary jump, though. _Okay, just put all the strength you have into your legs and..._ I took in a sharp breath and sprung off the ground. The extra bit of power in my jump was all I needed to go up a lot higher. My high jump cleared that pesky gap, and I was able to climb up to where Riku was standing.

"Ugh..." I grunted, pulling myself up.

"Oh, you made it," Riku pointed out, holding onto my upper arm to keep me steady as I stood up. "I almost started to worry about you."

"A-Almost?" I panted. "What is going on with you? Aren't you going to give Pinocchio to his father?"

Riku glanced down at the puppet under his other arm.

"The thought crossed my mind," he said. "But, there's something this puppet needs to help us with, first. Then he can go."

"Pinocchio!" Geppetto called out again. "Pinocchio! Please! Give me back my son!"

"Sorry, old man," Riku held onto Pinocchio a little tighter, refusing to let him go. "I have some unfinished business with this puppet."

Sora arrived in time with Donald and Goofy, and the three of them stood around Geppetto. The aged woodcarver was visibly upset by Riku's words.

"He's no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!" Geppetto argued.

"He is unusual," Riku agreed to that. "Not many puppets have hearts. I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs."

"What?" I held back a gasp. My eyes widened in disbelief. Could he have possibly meant...? No, that could not have been possible. I didn't want to believe something happened to her when we were separated.

I could feel my eyes burning at the thought of Kairi losing her heart. It broke my heart knowing that something bad must have happened to her. If she really did, then that would explain Riku's actions. But, to kidnap a puppet in hopes of giving its apparent heart to someone else? That sounded impossible.

Sora ran ahead of Geppetto and stopped at the edge of the broken ship's plank as if to confront Riku.

"Hold on a minute!" he yelled. His face twisted into worry and fear. "Are you... Are you talking about Kairi?"

"What do you care about her?!" Riku angrily spat back at him.

Not sparing another minute, Riku ran off into the depths of Monstro again. He stopped at the entrance to the whale's throat, only to turn to me with a questioning look on his face. _Are you coming?_ was what I read in his eyes. Sucking back a sob, I swallowed a lump in my throat and gazed down at Sora. He looked pale with worry.

"K-Kara?" Sora stuttered as I walked after Riku. "Don't tell me you're helping them."

"Sora, I'm going to figure out what's going on," I told him with a small smile on my face. Riku was acting even more weird, and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. If he wasn't going to give Sora any answers, then maybe I could get something out of him.

I hurried on ahead to catch up with Riku, leaving them with Geppetto.

* * *

Chasing after Riku yet again brought me to a part of Monstro that looked dangerously acidic. _This must be the stomach_ , I assumed. It reeked of horrid smells that made my skin crawl and nose hairs burn. I pinched my nostrils and approached Riku, who placed Pinocchio down at his feet.

I jumped across a stream of stomach acid to reach them. Pinocchio wasn't moving, but he was still breathing. He was sitting up, at least, but there was no strength in his wooden body to get him moving around. I let go of my nose and knelt down beside him. At least he was safe and out of harm. The last thing I wanted was for him to get in trouble again. That Heartless that took him hostage was still on the loose.

"Can you use that magic to heal him?" Riku asked anxiously.

"I-I don't think he's hurt," I told him, placing a hand on Pinocchio's head. _Out cold, but no apparent injuries_. "He must have blacked out because of all the excitement."

"That's good..." Riku sighed. "Then he can still be of some use."

I stood up straight and faced Riku with a burning glare. "Some use? Just what do you plan to do to Pinocchio?!"

Riku closed his eyes and turned his head away from me.

He apparently had nothing to say to even me.

"I... I thought we were best friends," I took a step back from him. "You know. No secrets."

His eyelids were half closed as he stared at me in silence. The way he was acting was so childish, I thought. If only he would tell me about what was going on with him. Riku's hand was hanging down at his side. For an instance, I actually wanted to take it into my own, but I fought off the tender idea and shook my head.

"Riku," I dropped my shoulders.

"I found Kairi," he finally said, shocking me.

My ears perked and my eyes shined, yet he sounded so grim about it.

"Maleficent is with her now, keeping her safe from the Heartless," Riku explained to me.

"Maleficent?!" I choked. It suddenly hit me right then and there. The witch who was calling all of the shots- the one who sent us to Agrabah and told Riku to take that girl. She was Maleficent, the witch that Cid and Leon warned me about. That was the Maleficent who was watching over Kairi? I was a little skeptical about that. "Don't you think it's a little dangerous to leave Kairi with her? I mean... Maleficent is the one who controls the Heartless. Right?"

"I could care less about the Heartless," Riku shook his head. "She's helped me this much to get Kairi back, and she said that it's possible to return her heart. Sure, those monsters get in the way. But, my heart is strong, and I'm strong. I can easily take out the ones that get in my way."

"This isn't right..." I said to him, turning back to Pinocchio.

"Hey, let Pinocchio go, Riku!" Sora arrived a moment later with Donald and Goofy.

Riku locked eyes with me shortly and let out a sigh.

"A puppet that's lost its heart to the Heartless..." he began. "Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi. How about it, Sora? Let's join forces to save her. We can do it together."

He jumped onto the center stage where Sora was, but our friend had his Keyblade out in defense.

Riku scoffed, "What? You'd rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?"

"Heart or no heart," Sora said in a low voice. "At least he still has a conscience. Unlike you."

"Conscience?" Riku raised a brow.

I picked Jiminy up and left him with Pinocchio. The little cricket that made sure the puppet boy made all the right choices. They were finally reunited, for good this time. I moved over to where Riku was and back. He and Sora looked ready to fight each other, and that was the last thing I wanted to happen.

"You might not hear it, Riku, but right now it's loud and clear to me," Sora spoke more. "It's telling me that you're on the wrong side!"

"Then you leave me no choice," Riku growled, holding up his dark sword. Tension between them was heavier than ever, but I was glad to see that Pinocchio was waking up. At least something happy was going on. "Hmph. Huh? Kara, stand back!"

"Whoa!"

Riku pulled me back in time when the Parasite Cage dropped down from above. But, I was unable to move out of the way from one of the tentacles. It struck me in the side and sent me flying into the wall.

"O-Ow..." I groaned, holding my aching side. My arm felt bruised from the impact.

"Kara!" Sora cried out. "Are you okay?!"

"No," I gritted my teeth. "T... That hurt so much."

"I've got you," Riku said, picking me up bridal-style. "We're getting out of here."

 _If I could just go back in time to put a stop to all this fighting..._ I let a single tear roll down my cheek. Sora was facing the Heartless by himself with Donald and Goofy. This time, we weren't going to help him. I didn't even have the strength to cast Cure on myself.

 _You've done all that you could. Don't be careless. Rewinding time is meaningless, but stopping it just a moment is helpful._

* * *

 _"They're gone!" Donald rubbed his eyes when Riku fled with Kara. A black mass of energy had opened up behind them, and the boy went through it._

 _The corridor had opened with the help of someone on the other side. Sora's eyes narrowed and tears threatened to fall when he witnessed his friends vanishing into the darkness. Riku was on the wrong side, that much he knew. But, he hardly wanted to consider Kara on that side, too. She helped them fight the Heartless before._

 _That Heartless injured her. He saw it, and there was nothing he could do right now to help her. It was out of his hands._

 _"Hup!"_

 _"Hiyah!"_

 _Sora jumped away from another attack from the Heartless. He was beyond worried about his friends, but this fight needed his full attention. Donald and Goofy were struggling with the wild and seemingly unpredictable attacks._

 _It was difficult until he actually spotted a pattern. Shortly after the discovery, Sora managed to deflect the tentacles and avoid the spewing of poisonous gas. The power of the Keyblade became his once again, allowing him to land several decisive blows on the monster parasite._

 _The Heartless was defeated after a long and difficult battle, and it released a heart just like all of the others. But, then something happened. There was a flash of light and a violent quake inside Monstro._

 _"Run!" Donald ordered, taking Pinocchio and Jiminy back to safety. "Hurry, Sora!"_

 _"Gwarsh, we gotta get out of here!" Goofy said, running away as the stomach acid inside Monstro bubbled out of control._

 _Sora started to run, but he stopped to look for Riku and Kara. They were still nowhere to be seen._

 _"Riku! Kara!" he called out to them. "Where are you?!"_

 _There was not enough time to keep looking for them. He had to run away and get back to the gummi ship. Hopefully, Pinocchio and Geppetto were able to get out of there in time._

 _Reluctantly, Sora buckled his belt as soon as he got into the ship. Still, his friends were not by his side. His best friends, actually. Donald and Goofy were busy manning the controls, when Monstro sneezed and sent them flying back into space._

 _"Wait for me." The boy whispered, putting his hand on the window of the cockpit._


	43. Unsettling Dilemma

_Riku looked on at Kairi's lifeless body. He returned to Captain Hook's cabin, where he left her after finding her on another world. There was still no sign of movement from her surprisingly warm fingers. Kairi wasn't cold. She still felt as warm and soft as she usually did. It was just that she didn't move._

 _It was saddening to see. The puppet he was going to use to help her slipped out of his grasp, and now he had to wait longer for another opportunity to help. Thinking about it, a realization came to his mind._

 _"So, Kairi's like a lifeless puppet now?" he asked Maleficent. His eyes never left the girl who slumbered endlessly._

 _"Precisely," the witch confirmed._

 _"And her heart was..." Riku couldn't finish the sentence, for it pained him too much._

 _"Taken by the Heartless, no doubt," Maleficent sighed. "Yet the darkness has no claim over her body... Fascinating."_

 _Riku turned around with his hands balled up into tight fists, "Tell me! What can I do?!"_

 _A grin spread across Maleficent's face. He was getting worked up, just as she intended him to be. Now, it was time to set into motion the wheels of her master plan._

 _"There are seven maidens of the purest heart," she said. "We call them the princesses of heart. Gather them together, and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There, you will surely find a way to recover Kairi's heart."_

 _"R-Really?" Riku glanced back at Kairi._

 _"Now, I'll grant you a marvelous gift for all the hard work you've done for me." Maleficent took a step forward. "The power to control the Heartless!"_

 _All of a sudden, his vision blurred. Riku groaned as a powerful darkness seeped into his veins. It burned and throbbed inside his heart. That pain he felt for a moment dulled seconds later, and a strange feeling enveloped his entire being. He opened his heart to this empowering "gift"._

 _Kara was so worried that Maleficent was using the Heartless for evil deeds, he recalled. But now the power to use those monsters rested within him. He could use them to do whatever it was he wanted. She had nothing to worry about now, he thought. Now, he could tell them to assist him in his journey to saving Kairi. The Heartless would help them in this effort to save their friend._

 _"Soon, Kairi," he said, putting a caring hand on Kairi's forehead. "Soon."_

* * *

My side was hurting still after that struggle inside Monstro, but it could have been much worse. Riku got me out of there and explained that it was something called a Corridor of Darkness that helped us escape. I hoped that the others were able to get out before anything bad happened.

A pirate named Captain Hook begrudgingly welcomed us aboard his huge ship. I was taken to one of the cabins so that I could rest. My energy was up to a decent point, and I was able to cast Cure on myself. But, it wasn't enough to get rid of all the pain.

I lied on my back on the uncomfortable mattress. Riku had yet to come back. He said that he had to go and check on something in the captain's cabin. That something I assumed to be Kairi. I couldn't believe that he actually found her. Where did she end up after our world was destroyed? Did Maleficent or the Heartless hurt her?

Although things took more of a sour turn than anticipated, I was glad to be back with Riku and Kairi. Sora wasn't here but that would change soon. We were going to get back together as soon as we got Kairi's heart back to her. _How are we going to help her?_ I could only question myself. Clearly, it was easier said than done. Never had I returned someone's heart.

I sighed loudly and turned onto my left side so that the door to the cabin was to me, "This is the worst..."

 _Is it even possible to get her heart back?_

Everything about her predicament made me want to feel depressed. My heart was hurting for her, because there was nothing I could do. There was not a thing I knew how to do so that she could wake up and play with us again. _I bet Riku's hurting so much right now_ , I thought to myself, closing my eyes. He had a crush on her. It was painfully obvious whenever he competed with Sora. The sparring rounds and dashes around the island were his way of catching her attention.

Did Kairi have mutual feelings for him? She did act like she had a thing for him, too. But, then again, she was a nice girl overall. All of the boys back home liked her. Even Sora was determined in some way to get her to like him. Everything he did was to keep up with Riku, and it usually ended up with him biting the dust. Riku had always been two steps ahead. He trained hard and worked hard. I was sure that Riku had all the brains in the group, because he always came up with the plans for the day.

 _I wonder if Riku likes anyone else..._

If that legend about the paopu fruit was true, would he share it with me?

"Agh!" I buried my face into the pillow. "...Mmph..."

My face was burning. It might have even turned red like a tomato.

I needed to get all of these things off my mind. There were more important things that I had to be focusing on right now.

Sitting up, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stared at the closed door. My fingers dug into the edges of the warm blanket as I thought back to that time in Monstro, when Riku told me about how Maleficent was watching over Kairi. He said that he would be with her once we got back to this ship. I didn't trust that woman. Cid said that she was a witch who destroyed their home. She had to be the mastermind behind all of the Heartless attacks. Then she must also be trying to get the Heartless into the Keyholes so that the worlds would be consumed by darkness.

A little bit of guilt nagged at me. I was even taking orders from her, but I did prevent a world from being destroyed. Er... I think I did. No way of knowing since Monstro came up from out of nowhere.

 _I bet Riku got blackmailed by her. It would explain why he's been acting so funny. Maybe she knows something about Kairi that we don't._ I considered.

My ears perked at the sound of tapping against the door. Thoughts in my head were pushed off to the side when Riku stepped inside, but it wasn't just him. Maleficent was right behind him. I frowned at her, yet she only smiled so calmly. Something about their visit gave me a bad vibe. The air around Riku was... different. It felt even more different from just an hour ago.

"Riku?" I stood up and met him in the middle of the cabin. "What's going on? And what's _she_ doing here?"

"Never mind that," he brushed my questions off.

"My dear child, we have simply come to share with you good tidings," Maleficent chimed in. "Tell her."

"Tell me... what?" I furrowed my brows.

"I know how to get Kairi's heart back," Riku said after a moment of silence. He half smiled at me, but his expression seemed sad. "You and I will cooperate with Maleficent. It's the only way to save her."

"Excuse me?" I blurted.

"You are in no position to fight back... Kara," Maleficent loomed behind Riku, her eyes reflecting something sinister. But, I refused to be intimidated by her.

"Says you," I muttered. "You aren't my mother."

"Kara," Riku intervened and grabbed my wrist. "I need you to help me with this. We can all be together again, just like always. Just help me with this!"

"But she's responsible for the Heartless-"

A finger flew to my lips and cut me off. Riku stood there with his hand outstretched in front of him. "Please."

 _I don't want to help that villain. She might double-cross us._ That was what I wanted to say to him. The words never came out when I wanted them to. Swatting Riku's hand away lightly, I huffed and glared harshly at him.

"I won't help her destroy any worlds," I said in a cold tone. "...What can I do to help Kairi?"

"Good, so we have your cooperation," Maleficent grinned.

"To save your precious friend, we must find the seven princesses. The power they possess is capable of opening the door to all wisdom and glory. There is one last princess to find. Go and retrieve her."

"I'll search a couple worlds myself," Riku put his hand on my shoulder and nodded. There was a peculiar sparkle in his eye when he said that. "We'll go our separate ways to cover more ground."

"Am I supposed to get to other worlds without a vessel?" I folded my arms and questioned them. "Where am I supposed to look, anyway?"

"Arrangements have been made for Oogie Boogie and Ursula to help you," Maleficent explained.

 _Oogie Boogie? Ursula?_ I raised a brow.

"You will go to their worlds and search," she went on.

I wasn't happy taking orders from her, but this idea of having a method to save Kairi was... interesting. Could it work? There was only one way to find out. I just hoped that the princesses wouldn't mind helping me and Riku with opening the door. And, if there was any funny business with Maleficent, then she would answer to the Keyblade. The Heartless were going to get a taste of it anyway. Those things didn't need to be running around in order for Kairi's heart to be returned to her.

As if to tell me to get going with it, she opened one of those dark and creepy portals on the other side of the cabin. She left, and it was just me and Riku standing in there while the portal hung open. I had a bad feeling about it. All of this was way too suspicious.

"Listen, I don't like working with her just as much as you," he told me as we stood side by side. Riku's words were questionable. It was like I couldn't even tell if he was being sincere or not. "This is all we can do to save our friend. I... I don't like you going out there alone, especially with those goons. Actually, I want you to have a fighting chance in case things don't turn out so well."

"What do you mean?" I turned to Riku fully, curious.

He said nothing. Rather, his hand extended forward, aimed at my shadow that mimicked my exact stance. There was a strange energy outlining his digits, then it flowed down to the ground and into the pitch black silhouette. I took a step back, eyes wide with shock when my shadow started moving on its own. A beady, yellow eye opened followed by another. It reminded me of one of those Shadows that Sora and I always fought, but this one was shaped more like me.

It rose from the ground and stared right at me. I tried taking a few steps back, but it only followed me. It was still _my_ shadow.

"R-Riku?!" I stuttered his name. "What is this?"

"I learned a few new tricks," he said. Riku stood off to the side with his arms at his sides. A calm smirk was present on his face as he watched me and my shadow. "I can control the darkness with my own hands now. It's my gift to you, Kara. A guardian that'll make sure you're safe even when I'm not there."

"It's not going to attack me, is it?" I gulped and shuffled a little closer to Riku, and it did as well. The shadow-me was still staring at me, like it was so fascinated. "Huh? Wait a minute... Did you say that you control the darkness?"

"Yeah," Riku nodded. "I didn't think it'd actually work, but now I have the power to keep things running smoothly. Don't worry. My heart's strong enough."

"But, it'll eventually wear away at your heart."

Yet, he dismissed my words with a motion of the hand. Riku moved away to the door and rested his hand on the fine wood. "I won't let that happen," he told me. "That thing is yours to control, though. Do it for Kairi, at least. I've gotta go, but we'll meet again soon. And when we do, we'll go to Hollow Bastion to set things right."

"Hollow Bastion?" I wondered out loud, but Riku left before I could get an explanation out of him. _Must be another world_.

 _I don't know if I should be afraid or amazed_ , I thought as I looked back at my life-given shadow. It was kind of cool, though. When I pointed at the pillow on the bed, the shadow took it as a command to go and pick it up. Like a loyal dog, it obeyed and brought it back to me. A dog that resembled me in physique, apart from the claws, eyes, and long antennae. Having this new _companion_ was going to take some getting used to, but I was feeling less worried about it the more I played around. "Guess we should go," I said, approaching the portal.

* * *

 _"Okay, guys, prepare for landing," Donald called back to Sora and Goofy. "We made it to Atlantica."_

 _The gummi ship slowed down as the next world came into view rather quickly. Their journey to it was rather short despite making a stop back at Traverse Town for a talk with Merlin, who gave them a little more training in the arts of magic. Concern was etched onto Sora's face when he saw the world. It was definitely different from any other that they had been to. This world was nothing but water! His blue orbs spotted no place for them to park the gummi ship._

 _"Land where?" Sora anxiously questioned Donald. "In the sea? We'll drown in there!"_

 _"Not with my magic, we won't," Donald pulled out his rod, knocking Goofy in the back of the head in the process, and he waved it around. "Just leave it to me!"_

 _Just like that, the trio and the gummi ship vanished into thin air. Their vessel was skillfully hidden in a place where none of the world's inhabitants would find it, while they reappeared elsewhere in the world. Once the bubbles around them cleared, Sora took a good look around them. He was simply amazed by the wondrous landscape. It was even more amazing that they were breathing underwater._

 _"I have a tail?!" Sora gasped when he spotted the dolphin's tail. His human legs were gone. "Should I be worried?"_

 _"No, it's just a little bit of magic to keep the world order," Donald stated, floating up above Sora's head. He was half octopus._

 _"World border?" Goofy, the sea turtle, asked._

 _"ORDER!" the octopus duck quacked loudly in correction._

 _They were enjoying swimming around and trying to get used to the different setting. It was hard using flippers or tentacles to move around in the water, but the three heroes found their methods. But while they messed around, trouble seemed to be brewing. Swimming hurriedly toward them was a mermaid and a yellow fish. Following close behind was a tiny red crab that had trouble keeping up._

 _"Come on, Sebastian!" the red-haired mermaid urged the crab on._

 _"Ariel, wait! Slow down!" Sebastian cried and picked up the pace in his strokes. "Don't leave me behind! Aah!"_

 _A little less fearful when they came across Sora, Donald, and Goofy, Ariel approached them with a smile on her face. Her friends were a little less than enthusiastic about the interaction, however._

 _"Relax, Sebastian," she said calmly. "They don't look like one of them. Right, Flounder?"_

 _"I don't know..." the yellow fish poked out from behind her back, unsure about them. "There's something weird about them."_

 _Gulping, Sora tensed up and shifted his eyes from side to side._

 _"Eh, heh," he laughed nervously. "Weird? W-What do you mean?"_

 _Ariel circled them, her cheerful gaze taking in their unusual appearances. Of course, even she had to admit that they were different. Much to their dismay, she asked them simple questions that made it hard to keep from revealing their identity as outsiders. The excuse he gave was that they were from far away- different waters. So innocent, the mermaid accepted it as truth and even taught them the proper way of swimming._

 _Their way of swimming was improving quickly, and they were really enjoying themselves._

 _"If only Kara was here," Sora sighed, catching Flounder in his hands. "She'd love to be in a place like this..."_

 _"Who?" Flounder asked innocently._

 _Sora let go of him and cleared his throat, "O-Oh... Uh, just a friend of mine."_

 _"Good job, boys," Sebastian clapped his claws together. "Now, let's move onto self-defense!"_

 _"Huh?"_

 _Unsurprisingly, the Heartless made their grand appearance. The new variety of enemies had the appearance of jellyfish, but their twirling attacks were still no match for the Keyblade. Short work was made of them, bringing a sense of relief to the three sea people who were actually trying to escape them. It then came to their attention that the Heartless were not quite dealt with. The world was under attack._

 _"We must hurry to the palace!" Sebastian ordered._


	44. Under the Sea

_I... I don't think I'm going to make it..._

Clamping my eyes shut, I kicked my legs as hard as I could manage to get to the surface of the water. According to Maleficent's information, I was going to Ursula's world first- Atlantica. I had no idea that it was thousands of meters under the sea. My lungs felt like they were going to pop, and I wasn't even close to getting up there.

"Oh, you poor dear," a woman cooed. I stopped kicking my legs and looked down at a plump, white-haired lady swimming up towards me. She had big red lips curved up into a wide grin. Her black dress ended in eight tentacles. "You must be the cute little help Maleficent sent. Aw, you've no way to breathe down here, darling."

"Mmgh...!" Bubbles shot out from the corners of my mouth.

"I'll help you," she chuckled, casting some kind of magic on me.

The pressure on my lungs eventually faded, and I could breathe again. But, to my surprise, my legs turned into a tail. My lower half was turned into an orca's rear extremities. The clothes I wore were replaced with... seashells. _This is so embarrassing. I-I can't find my clothes!_

"All better~!" the sea witch hummed, admiring the work she did with turning me into a sea creature. "Now you can roam free with all the other merfolk."

"Geh... You must be Ursula," I tried to hide myself with my arms. "I appreciate the help, but I'll be going now."

"Ah, ah, ah!" Ursula wagged one of her tentacles from side to side. She cut me off when I went to swim the other way, which was surprisingly easy to do in spite of the transformation. "I can't let you go without a little repayment."

 _Repayment?_ I pursed my lips. Although, maybe I should have expected something like this. She was one of Maleficent's helpers, so definitely not someone trustworthy.

"What do you want?" I asked coldly. But the chill in my voice could never match that of the water's low temperature.

The price Ursula named was actually a very simple thing. She was looking for the world's Keyhole, and she needed help to find it since her _minions_ had no luck. It might have been a fib that I told her when I said that I would go and look for it. I was wanting to find the Keyhole anyway to seal it with the Keyblade, but it wasn't like I was going to lead her straight to it if I did find it. "Yes, I can go find it," was my answer to her. Ursula acted ecstatic despite it being a partial lie. She didn't need to know that. I was just happy when she left to her lair somewhere under the sea.

"Atlantica, huh?" I muttered, admiring the scenery.

Fish and other critters of the sea were everywhere. The whole swimming thing with a giant tail was different, but I quickly adjusted to it and made my way through the underwater valley. A friendly dolphin swam passed me as I swam around some rocks. Everything was so nice and relaxing. Everything... except for the jellyfish. I stayed away from those things. While I have never seen one in person until now, I could recall a letter from my father telling me all about the wonders of the sea. The jelly was included in it.

 _Eh? What's this weird design all about?_ I wondered, coming across a strange drawing on the sea walls. It was in multiple places- a golden trident. Going in the direction that it pointed in didn't seem at all like a bad idea, so I did. My mindless wandering went on until a powerful current pushed me along through a tunnel. I tried to grab onto something in the rough water, but it carried me far until my back hit a rock wall. It hurt, but I recovered quickly and slipped through another route to avoid being carried off again.

"Gwarsh, look out!"

"Get out of the way, Sora!"

"Hey! I know what I'm doing."

Echoing voices bounced throughout the cave I swam through. They sounded way too familiar for me to be mistaken. The usual bickering with each other, it brought comfort to me. I followed the sound of their voices to the end of the tunnel, where it opened up again to the ocean. A radiant palace could be seen in the distance. My gaze fell upon three people fending off a swarm of Heartless to protect a mermaid, a fish, and a crab. The spiky brown hair, a feathered face, and a goofy grin. Yeah, it was definitely Sora and them. There were so many Heartless after them, though.

"Sora!" I called out to my friend as he fought off a trident-wielding Heartless. He was being overwhelmed by a number of them, but I was able to catch them all with a blast of ice magic.

"Kara, you're okay!" he rushed toward me, swinging his Keyblade at a couple more Heartless. "I thought we lost you."

"Well, here I am." I smiled at him and gave his shoulder a nudge.

Donald and Goofy came over to us with the other three. It was a happy reunion and also a happy first greeting with Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian. They were very nice, but our talk together was cut short by more Heartless showing up. Ariel led us to the palace across the golden bridge. Still, the Heartless pursued us ruthlessly.

There were too many to fight off all at once. So we kept swimming until reaching a huge chamber inside the palace, where we came across a muscular merman wearing a crown. He held onto a mighty looking trident and blasted the Heartless with a bolt of lightning. It quickly got rid of them and saved us from a whole lot of fighting.

"That was too close," the merman grumbled, rising from his throne. Ariel casually approached him while we stood a little ways away. It was a little awkward to just go up to him, and a little nerve-wrecking. He must have noticed the awe in our eyes. He looked on proudly at the fine work he did in disposing of the enemy. "As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace."

"Daddy!" Ariel smiled at her father, only to be caught in his disappointed stare.

"Oh, Ariel," he groaned. "When will you listen? It's much too dangerous out there! Strange creatures lurk outside."

The way he was looking at us, it seemed like he was referring to the four of us. We gulped at the same time in response to the unwelcoming response.

Sebastian swam up beside the older merman and cleared his throat, "Ahem! Behold. You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton!"

"And who are they?" the king questioned Sebastian.

"They helped us fight off those creatures," Ariel jumped in to explain. "They're very nice, daddy!"

"Hm, they don't look familiar," Triton stroked his beard and studied us from head to tail. "Where are you from?"

"W-We're from an ocean very far away," Sora said with a clear stutter.

It probably would have been a good excuse, but then Goofy went about swimming around us with a dance in his swim. "Yup! We came to find the Keyhole."

"The WHAT?" King Triton leaned forward angrily.

Before Goofy could go on to explain, the king of the merpeople interjected and dismissed it as false information. The Keyhole didn't exist, according to him. I flinched at the sharp words King Triton used and felt bad when Ariel got in trouble. He refused to let her wander outside the palace. It sounded like a harsh punishment. We followed her outside to the outskirts of the palace.

"Come on, let's go to my grotto," Ariel said, seemingly unfazed by her father's choice words. "While you're all here, I want to show you something... There, where that big boulder is."

She led the way to where her grotto was. It was closed in by the boulder, but Sora and I were able to pull it open to let everyone inside.

There were so many trinkets and other treasures all over the grotto. All of it was her growing collection of loot from all over the sea. Some of it was very beautiful, like the cute little music box.

Ariel sighed, "Look at all the wonderful things Flounder and I've collected. I think it's from all over the world. Someday, I'm going to see what's out there. I want to see other worlds. Does that sound strange?"

I swam around and admired the things that she found. At the bottom, there was a peculiar engraving in a crystal plate. It looked like part of that trident King Triton was carrying around. I grazed it with my fingertips as I swam back to meet with Sora and Ariel. _Interested in seeing the outside world?_ I giggled softly. She reminded me of Sora and myself, and also Riku.

"No," Sora replied.

"That doesn't sound strange at all," I told her, smiling kindly. "You know, we used to feel the same way."

"Used to?" she titled her head to the side.

"Er, well... We still do," Sora said quickly.

"Oh." Ariel nodded slowly and did her best to understand. "Hm... Hey, why don't we try looking for that Keyhole you were talking about?"

"Ah, but your father said-" I tried to convince her otherwise since her father was against the idea, but she pouted and balled up her hands.

"Oh, he treats me like a little girl!" Arial complained. "He never wants to let me do anything. He just... He just doesn't understand anything."

Sora and I looked to each other. We didn't want to come between them, but we also wanted to find the Keyhole. Reluctantly, we allowed for Ariel to come along in our adventure to find the world's Keyhole. She actually didn't do too bad in fighting off the Heartless. It turned out that merfolk had some skill with magic. Regardless, however, we were going to do our best to keep her safe from harm and injury.

* * *

 _"Those impudent fools will never find the Keyhole," Ursula growled as she watched Ariel swimming away with Sora and Kara. Her long nails drew circles over a cauldron in the center of her lair. Evil eyes studied the mermaid and a chuckle sounded. The image of Ariel came to life and rose from the cauldron to swim around the sea witch. "I suppose the girl could be useful. And I've got the Heartless on my side. Hm. Triton, my old friend... Your day is coming."_

 _Ursula sat in her personal throne and sighed. "That other twerp is a little stubborn."_

 _She brought up another image but this time of Kara. They had met before, when the girl appeared without a way to breathe underwater. It was by chance that they encountered one another right then and there, but Ursula took it as a good sign. "I do believe that one will turn out sooner or later," Ursula mused, tickling under the chin of the fake Kara. "It's just a matter of time. All I have to do is exploit that pretty little darkness, and then you. Are. Mine."_


	45. Crushing Feelings

**A/N** Something I like to do with this fic is write as I play the game. That way I can get all the important text and dialogue in place without having to rely purely on memory or the wiki, and I can implement some creativity into those special moments. Well, a thing happened during my break and I forgot to save my game progress while in Atlantica! Long story short, we're playing back through Monstro to get back to where it was left off...**

* * *

There were tons of places to look around all over Atlantica. On our way out of Ariel's grotto, she took us back around the palace to show us what all there was to see. It really was a fantastic place. An entire world unseen above the water... So mystic, or something like that.

Next, she showed us the tranquil grotto where she liked to spend some of her free time. It was apparently also the place she went to whenever her father really got under her skin. One thing was for sure, though. In the middle of the grotto was a very comfy rock perfectly shaped for lying on. And, from there, we made our way back through the calm depths of the sea to where there was a lone dolphin swimming about.

"Look!" Ariel pointed at a group of _Sea Neons_ and _Screwdivers_ chasing after the dolphin.

"Uh, oh, guess we should give it a hand?" Sora turned to the rest of us.

No one protested against helping the dolphin. The poor thing was trying to get away, but the Heartless were being persistent. We quickly swam after the dolphin and Heartless, but they were a little too fast for us. However, thanks to your magic, we were able to take out all of the enemies.

Flounder told us about how the dolphins around here were incredible swimmers that could get through any of the terribly strong currents.

"There's this sunken ship nearby that I want to show you guys," Ariel said as we rode on our new dolphin friend. It took us through one of those currents that she told us about and let us go when we got to a shipwreck site in the middle of a huge underwater canyon. "Over there."

"Heh... A-Are there any sharks down here?" Donald looked nervous, latching onto Goofy's green shell.

"Oh, don't be silly," Ariel teased him. "There's nothing to worry about. We'll be fine if we stick together!"

 _That's some hopeful thinking, alright_ , I shook my head and swam down to the ocean floor. There were lifeboats broken and buried under the sand, while the ship was perched on a rugged bed of rocks. _Huh? What is that thing?_ I stopped swimming. In a tight spot between a small boat and the rock wall, I could see something shiny. My arms were way too short to get to it from where I was. _If only I could reach it..._

"Let's go find some treasure in that big ship!" Sora grinned and explored the abandoned vessel.

"Treasure?" Donald's head poked out from the shelter underneath Goofy's shield. "Oh, boy!"

It creaked and rocked side to side. My stomach turned every time I heard something that didn't sound normal, which was everything. This thing could collapse at any moment. I was so sure that it would. We did find some small treasures to take along with us, though. Not the kind of treasure Donald was hoping for, though. He got disappointed when we found a measly mythril shard in one of the boxes.

"There's one more box over there that we didn't look in," Sora pointed over at a single crate by a glass window. "I've got a feeling that there's something good in there. Let's go check it out!"

"I don't know, Sora," I glanced from side to side.

Something about it didn't feel right. He swam over to it anyway and bent over to open the box. The moment his hand touched the lid, however, an enormous creature broke through the glass window and nearly chomped him. I pulled Sora out of the way in the nick of time before the sharp teeth could clamp down. Several more times did it try to eat us, but we ducked away in a hole.

"It's a shark!" Donald quacked and hid in a corner as pieces of wood broke off from the floor above us. "We're going to get eaten!"

"This is bad," Ariel held Flounder close. "Oh... Daddy's going to be so mad."

"Don't worry, it sounds like it's leaving," Sora peeked outside to scout the ship's interior. "We can make it if we go now."

"Gwarsh, we better skedaddle!" Goofy urged us on.

"L-Let's just see if there's any treasure first," Donald gave into the temptation. He couldn't seem to shake the thought of leaving without seeing what was in the box, so we investigated. Yet he also hid behind my back. "Hurry up and open it!"

"Don't rush me," I huffed at him.

Carefully, I lifted the lid and peered at the mystery inside. _Something shiny..._

"Hm," I hummed thoughtfully. The object inside was a crystalline trident, the pronged part of one. "The shape of it reminds me of something."

"Of what?" Ariel asked, peeking over my shoulder at the sparkling object.

"That's what I'm trying to remember," I sighed. "I'll hold onto it for now, I guess."

"Okay, now we can leave!" Donald egged us on to depart very impatiently.

To the outside of the ship, we made haste for the current that the dolphin carried us through. It was the only way out that the shark couldn't follow us through, but we weren't getting out of there without a fight. The shark was too fast to swim away from, so we decided to face it personally. Thankfully, it couldn't take much more of the beating that we did give it.

* * *

"I thought there was something familiar about this trident," I held the crystal trident out in front of me and compared it to the indentation of one back at Ariel's grotto. The two symbols matched each other perfectly. "Maybe if I just fit this into there... Ah ha!"

"It's... beautiful," Sora said, admiring the matched up trident.

It gave off a peculiar shine as the light from up above shined down. I moved back a little bit to examine it, hoping that something meaningful would happen.

"Ariel, you've disobeyed me again!" King Triton's voice boomed inside the grotto, startling us all. We all backed away from the trident emblem and looked back at the king of the mermen as he entered Ariel's grotto. Sebastian, the guilty looking crab, was close behind him. I swallowed a lump in my throat and noticed the crushing grasp he had on the golden trident in his right hand. Triton looked even more furious than before. "I've told you not to leave the palace. Yet you- What."

The old king froze when he looked past us at the crystal. His eyes widened with shock, and he raised his glowing trident above his head.

"Despicable."

"Daddy, no!" Ariel pleaded for him to stop, but it was too late to stop the bolt from destroying the crystal trident.

I gasped softly at the sight of tiny fragments sinking down to the floor. One of the pieces landed in the palm of my hand, giving me a good look at the destructive judgement King Triton passed. _Something so beautiful was destroyed in an instant._ I frowned and wrapped my fingers around the fragment. _Why did he do that?_

"How could you..." Ariel held back a fit of sobs, and she hugged her arms. "I'll never forgive you!"

Ariel cried, though her tears merged with the sea water. Without even looking back, the mermaid swam away from here- away from her strict father. No one tried to stop her, not even Triton. He glared angrily at each and every one of us, but his mean gaze locked onto me and Sora.

"Young man, you are not from another ocean," the old king said, revealing our identity as outsiders. "You're from another world! Aren't you?"

"H-Huh?"

He took our reaction as a yes.

"Then you must be the key bearer." I was shocked that he even figured that much out. Neither of us even mentioned to him that Sora had the Keyblade.

"How did you know?" Sora asked, equally shocked. "W-Well, there is two, actually. But can you explain?"

"Two?" he narrowed his eyes and looked to me. "Hmph. You may fool Ariel, but you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail."

"That's a little harsh..." I folded my arms.

"As the key bearer, or key bearers, you must already know..." King Triton continued. "One must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds."

"Of course we know that!" I argued.

"It's just that..." Sora's voice trailed off.

"You have violated this principle," King Triton spoke over him. "The key bearer shatters peace and brings ruin."

Goofy shook his head and pointed at us with his flippers, "Aw, Sora and Kara ain't like that. They're both real nice!"

"I thank you for saving my daughter," Triton said and turned his back on us. "But, there is no room in my ocean for you or your _keys_. I will tell you this only once: leave."

Once he left, I brought out my Keyblade and examined it. I couldn't believe that he would accuse us of breaking the peace. We were doing our best to keep the peace, not destroy it. It looked scary, but I knew that this weapon in my hands was used for good. All that mattered was whose hands it was in. That was how I felt about it, anyway...

"We should go and find Ariel," Sora let out a sigh and folded his arms. "She must be pretty down after that."

* * *

 _Ariel, the young princess of Atlantica, retreated to the tranquil grove. Her sobs were nonstop as she buried her face in her arms. The crystal trident she had worked so hard to find with her new friends was destroyed in an instant. Remembering it was so painful. It hurt her heart so very much._

 _Why did it have to happen? If he didn't like it, then he could have just said something to her. This was so unfair. He had no right to just take something away from her without a second thought._ _Whether he cared for her feelings or not, she had no idea. He obviously detested all of the precious treasures she brought back from her expeditions._

 _This invisible pain she felt seemed to beckon forth sinister company, unbeknownst to the little mermaid. Descending from above, two eels with matching eyes grinned in delight at the sight of her sorrowful state._

 _"My, my, the poor child suffers such deep sorrow," one of them said, playing along with the mood._

 _"What a pity," said the other as they circled Ariel. "If only there were something we could do..."_

 _"Wait. Maybe **she** can be of some help."_

 _"Yes. Maybe she can be of some help to **you**."_

 _Ariel rose from the rock she was sulking on and stifled her whimpers. By now she had realized that she was not alone anymore. These eels spoke of a woman whom she did not know, for they had yet to reveal her. There were many other mermaids in the sea that she could talk to, she supposed. But, she preferred not going back to the palace in the case that she bumped into her father again._

 _"Who are you talking about?" Ariel questioned the eels, her curiosity piqued._

 _"Oh, she would surely help you," the eels continued, rising again._

 _"She'd make all your dreams come true... Ursula can help..."_

 _It was like magic when they twirled and faded into a black smoke. The dark screen spread fast, then dispersed to reveal a chubby woman with white hair and fat lips. She was chuckling and staring right at Ariel with a hidden desire in her eyes. Ursula rubbed her hands together and approached the princess._

 _"You called, my dear?" she hummed._

 _"Y-You're Ursula? I w-was just wondering if-" Ariel asked, somewhat intimidated by the woman. She was partly hiding behind the rock as she looked up at the many tentacles above._

 _"It's alright," Ursula quickly interrupted her. It was as if she already knew what the mermaid was going to say to her. Well, she had a fairly certain idea that she knew what it was about. Why, she could say that she was 100% positive. Ursula had been watching the entire thing for some time now._

 _"Helping others is what I live for! Hm. Let me guess. You wish to see other worlds. That shouldn't be too hard. After all, your new friends came from another world."_

 _"What?" Ariel gasped._

 _That first time that she talked to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, they said that they were from a sea far away from here. It made sense because they weren't familiar, but maybe she was being too naive to even consider. They were from another world? That other mermaid who was with them, too, then._ _But, if they were all from another world and not a sea, then that meant they lied to her._

 _Ariel's eyes dropped to the coral as she thought about it some more. While she was hurt deeply by her father's actions, the false words of these 'friends' she had just recently made hurt, too. She wanted to know why they hid it from her all this time._

 _Ursula's hands crept under Ariel's chin, lifting her gaze back to the heavily colored face in front of her. "Of course, those folks had special help- that mysterious key."_

 _"Now, now, cheer up, sweetheart," Ursula chuckled loudly again, amused by the pained expressions made by the girl. "You have something special, too. Now listen carefully..."_


	46. Trouble at Sea

King Triton left us with a serious scolding and went back to his palace with Sebastian. We lost the crystal trident that must have had some kind of a purpose, and Ariel ran away and was nowhere to be seen. Or maybe it was more proper to say that she _swam_ away. Either way, she was gone and we had nothing to go off of.

"Oh... Where did Ariel go?" Flounder paced back and forth. "I want to go looking for her, but I'm s-sorta scared to go out there with all those monsters."

"Sora, that big ol' shark is still looking for us!" Donald and Goofy rushed back inside the grotto. The big boulder blocking the entrance slammed shut following their return. Something had crashed into it. Everyone was on the alert now.

"Why don't we just stay in here until it leaves?" Donald cowered behind some junk. "I almost lost my tail!"

"But, you don't exactly have a tail..." Sora pointed out, gesturing to the tentacles. "Wait, aren't you supposed to have eight of those? I only see six."

"What?!" the magician quacked. He counted the number of limbs he had out loud and slowly.

"Guess that makes Donald a squid," Goofy laughed and pointed his fin at Donald. Of course, it earned him a bolt of lightning to the shell.

"Nah, squids have seven," Sora shook his head. "I think Donald is a... uh... I'm not really sure."

I sighed and lightly kicked my tail. They were back to their silly nature in spite of the problem we were being faced with. It actually amazed me that they were like this since our first time together. Maybe it was a little refreshing. Just a little. Riku was always so serious and never really lightened up. Oh, well, I had mixed feelings about both sides.

All that mattered right now was getting out of here and finding Ariel. No, that couldn't have been all that we had to do. The Heartless are quickly growing in number, so they had to be going after something or someone. _Ah wait, this world's Keyhole is in danger with all those monsters_ , I remembered. Somewhere down the road, we had to find it and hurry with getting it sealed before things got worse. _We'll find it eventually. For now..._

"Ariel!"

We searched all over the ocean's gorge and valley in hopes of finding Ariel, but we had very little luck. She wasn't hiding behind any rocks; we didn't see her in the tranquil grotto that she showed us before. The ocean was a vast place, though. If she swam very far away, then it'd be days before we actually found her. We didn't have that kind of time.

"I hate to say this, but I think I have an idea of where to look," I stopped searching and sat down on a ledge. The others crowded around me, confused.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"I mean, we should probably check out the palace," I clarified, and they all dropped their jaws in response.

"There?!" Sora tensed his shoulders. "But you heard what King Triton said to us. He'll probably kill us if we even get near the palace."

"It's worth a shot, though," I sighed and shook my head. "His guards are going to be distracted with all the Heartless around here, so it'll be easy getting in."

"I still don't like it." Sora was adamant in not going, and he crossed his arms to prove it. I pushed myself off the ledge, my dorsal fin scraping the rock under me.

I swam off in the direction of Triton's palace ahead of them. No one followed immediately, but they did eventually.

* * *

 _"I think the Keyhole they seek is somewhere in the palace. Now, my dear, if you can take me there without your daddy knowing... I can help you get to these other worlds you long for."_

 _Ursula's voice echoed in Ariel's head as they both snuck into the palace. All of the guards were gone. Several had gone out to handle the Heartless situation brought on by a wave of Ursula's hand. She didn't want them being noticed right off the bat. As for any others who were still inside, she simply turned them into pitiful creatures with no power to do anything to stop her._

 _At last, they made it to the throne room. Ursula smirked at the sight of the gold trident floating behind Triton's throne. The fool left it behind, and unattended. It made for a quick and easy grab._

 _"Very good," Ursula grinned evilly._

 _" **Ariel**!"_

 _It had gone smoothly until the king actually showed his face. The sea witch's smile instantly disappeared when Triton entered the throne room. He shoved the mermaid out of the way to face Ursula, but he was quickly shot down by a bolt of energy generated from the trident- his own weapon._

 _Triton clutched his stomach and groaned in pain. He dropped down and slumped in his throne as Ursula laughed uncontrollably. The trident in her hands was glowing, but a tinge of darkness tainted the golden glow of the treasure. Its light no longer reflected gentleness. He could only see darkness in control of it._

* * *

Not too long after we arrived at the outskirts of the palace, we noticed something strange going on. There were teams of Heartless surrounding the entire place, and none of the merpeople were anywhere to be seen. I expected to see at least a few of them. We beat them around. It was better than messing with the residents of the world. Then we would really be meddling.

The tons of Heartless was soon diminished to a mere _Sheltering Zone_ , which got reduced to _Sea Neons_ , and an _Aquatank_ with some _Screwdrivers_ under it. It was a long lineup, but we took care of them all. We definitely had the hang of fighting underwater.

Rushing through the palace, we found it to be just as empty as the outside. None of the residents could be found anywhere. So, we hurried over to King Triton's throne room. Something serious was happening. Even if he wouldn't be so pleased seeing us again, we had to talk to him about it.

I sped up my pace until the throne was within my line of sight, but my tail kicking abruptly stopped when I heard loud laughter. It sounded disgustingly familiar.

"The trident is all mine at last, you fool!"

We all hid behind one of the pillars supporting the palace and saw someone waving King Triton's trident around. That someone had thick tentacles and short hair, and a heavy build. I knew I saw that person around somewhere. The moment I arrived in Atlantica was when I saw her.

 _It's Ursula!_ I gasped.

"I couldn't have done it without your help, my dear," Ursula pointed the trident's three prongs at Ariel, who was holding onto her father's muscled arm. The king looked like he was badly injured and too weak to fight back.

"Ursula, no!" she pleaded. "I didn't want this!"

"Why not?" Ursula tilted her head to the side. "Aren't you tired of following your dear daddy's orders? Oh, yes! We had a deal, didn't we? Time for a little journey- to the dark world of the Heartless!"

 _No!_ I gritted my teeth. Recklessly rushing into the scene like this would have been a bad idea, but I hated holding my tongue and just watching.

"We cannot find the Keyhole." One of the eel things swimming around Ursula spoke up next to its partner.

"The Keyhole is not here."

"What?!" Ursula misfired a bolt, imploding a nearby statue by accident.

I felt a pat on my shoulder. Turning around to Sora, he gave me a nod and swam out from our hiding place. They were all tired of doing nothing, and I was pleased about it, too. We were going to put a stop to whatever was going on in there. Although, Ursula took to notice us.

"Company?" she faced us and smirked at Sora and me. "I'm afraid you're a little too late!"

Ursula was gone when a black mass of a strange substance enveloped her. It eventually subsided, but the witch was gone. We were left with the aftermath of the incident, which was the injured king who lost his trident.

"Daddy..." Ariel sobbed, caressing her father's shoulder.

King Triton was breathing heavily and weakly pointed at the place where Ursula was before. "The trident..." he said in between pants. "We must... get it back. Its power cannot be... in control of one whose heart is... full of such... darkness."

Sora and I shared glances.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he started.

"Let's go after Ursula!" I nodded.

We turned the other way to leave after Ursula, but Ariel got ahead of us. She looked at us with eyes full of hurt and guilt.

"I'm going with you." Ariel's eyebrows knitted together in a serious expression. But we had no complaints in the first place knowing that she wanted to help. "My father is hurt, and it's all my fault. I have to stop Ursula!"

"That's right!" Sebastian cheered. "I'm right behind you, Ariel.

"Urg..." Triton, using what strength he had left, sat up in his throne. "This fight will be difficult, but let me give you a bit of advice. I still know that old witch's tricks. Listen well. Ursula draws power from her cauldron. It has a strange magic. If you can disrupt it, then I'm certain you can beat her."

"Okay!" I smiled softly at the old king.

"But, where are we gonna find her?" Goofy asked, bringing up a good question.

King Triton went silent for a moment but spoke again when he had an answer he thought fit to give, "Report has it that she came from the direction of a sunken ship, not too far away. Please, be careful."


	47. The Tide is Subsiding

Back at the shipwreck site, the place where we had a run-in with a giant shark, we searched all over for Ursula's suspected lair. It was definitely not an easy hunt. That was mostly because we ran into that same shark once again.

We dealt with the shark as best we could, but it fled before we could deal the final blow. I had a feeling that we were going to be seeing more of it during our stay in this world. After it left, though, we returned to searching for a way to Ursula. That was when we found a strange contraption, and an odd design on the wall.

Sebastian did us a favor by pushing the suspicious square, which resulted in a portion of the rock sinking into the sand. To our surprise, a hidden path was opened up to us. Perhaps it was where we needed to go in order to find the lair.

"I hope this is the right way," Ariel mumbled, following us through.

"So, why did you say that it was your fault that King Triton got hurt," Sora asked Ariel as we explored a place called the Den of Tides.

There were Heartless everywhere, which gave us the clue that we were in the right place. The markings along one side of the den led us in a direction suspected to be the right way. We hoped that it was the route we needed to take.

"Ursula tricked me into helping her get the trident," she stated.

"Oh."

"You can't keep blaming yourself," I told her, patting her back. "Someone like that is awful good at playing tricks. Even the best of us gets fooled sometimes..."

"Really?" she looked at me with hopeful eyes, and I nodded slowly.

We kept swimming and reached a dark looking abyss. The Heartless were pouring out of the mouth of a dead sea monster's skeleton. Search Ghosts took the initiative in scoping us out, but we took care to wipe them all out. Cleaning out the whole place was a tedious chore but nothing we couldn't handle. It was soon all clear for us to venture inside.

It smelled rotten in there, but we continued on. I couldn't help but notice some strange looking plants down below. "What are those things?"

Sora saw them, too, and poked one of them, "Looks like seaweed."

"Wah! It has eyes!" Donald cried, hiding on Goofy's shell when the weird things opened their eyes. We had no clue what they were or how they got there, but we didn't stick around to find out.

Ursula's hidden lair was just up ahead, and we stormed inside with our weapons drawn. It was surprisingly clean in her hideout. There was a mirror and makeup kit off to the side and a place for her to relax. In the middle was a black cauldron, most likely the one that King Triton was telling us about. I could see a black mist rising from it. There was some kind liquid in it, and it wasn't water. Multiple colors swirled and played tricks on our eyes. It was a mystic thing.

We could see Ursula sitting up in a giant oyster shell overhead. Her evil gaze sent chills down my spine as she poked her head out to glare at us.

"Come out!" Donald waved his staff around and quacked angrily. "You can't run!"

"Your time has come!" Sebastian supported the notion.

Ursula did as she was told, surprisingly, but the look on her face was beyond horrifying. Her expression twisted into something hideous. Just one look at it was enough to send Donald and Sebastian flying back into their hiding places, which was underneath Goofy's shield.

"Go back!" one of them shouted out.

"Flotsam. Jetsam."

Ursula whistled, calling out the two eels that were with her back at the palace. They split off and approached us from the sides while Ursula remained in the middle, on the other side of the cauldron. She tossed something away and into the cauldron. It caused a strange, chemical reaction, which caused problems for us. They were potions and other concoctions that she was using as a means of fighting back. Balls of unquenchable flames shot out from the cauldron. Then there was a torrent of water that spun us around, disorienting us. She mixed it up every so often and usually tried hitting us with a spinning attack.

Donald and Goofy felt obligated to being the supporters, assisting me and Sora by giving us potions and smacking around the eels. Sora and I took Ursula on personally, though she was able to maneuver around us effortlessly. It was during our struggle when Ariel appeared over the cauldron with a bunch of Ursula's potions and other personal items.

"I won't let you get away, Ursula!" the mermaid shouted, dropping all of the potions into the cauldron at once.

"No!" Ursula shrieked.

The cauldron was unable to contain the excess power; it was out of control. Before we could get caught up in it, we all hid behind the wall to avoid a massive explosion. Ursula, on the other hand, was thrown back into her mirror, breaking all of the stuff she collected. Flotsam and Jetsam were defeated, and they both faded away.

Ursula looked crushed at their demise. Hurt, even. Sora and I approached her as she sulked over the loss of her precious pets.

"Y-You'll pay for this, you brats!" she cried and fled back into the oyster.

"Let's go!" Ariel pulled at our arms. "We have to get my father's trident back."

"Right!" we both nodded.

There was no following Ursula the way she went. It was all clogged up. But, we didn't give up hope. There was still time to catch her and save the world before it was too late. Tracing our steps back to the calm depths, where the powerful current was, we chased after Ursula. Intense pressure pushed against me as I swam hard against the current. We struggled to keep up with Ursula, who had already made it to the other side.

 _Crap, this is tough_ , I clenched my teeth. I kicked my tail even harder and swam with all my might to make it through the current. Ariel made it through, then Donald and Goofy. Sora held to the rocks and swam all the way. _Just a little bite more!_ I dug my teeth into my lip and propelled myself forward in one last effort.

I breathed a sigh of relief when my body emerged from the pounding water. It felt a little bit lighter than before. Maybe it was a good thing. Perhaps it meant that I was getting a little bit stronger. Moreover, it meant that we were all closer to putting a stop to Ursula's wicked schemes. She was escaping into the open ocean, but we gave chase until we were, at least, a mile away from civilization.

"You pathetic fools!" Ursula howled, taking hold of the trident. Despite being outnumbered, she was determined to claim victory over us. "Can't you see that I rule the sees now?"

A widespread shroud of darkness rose from the abyss below us. I couldn't see anything else but swirling water. We must have been trapped in the eye of a hurricane- an underwater hurricane. Ursula grew into a massive size right before our eyes, and the trident grew with her. Her teeth were razor sharp, and she donned a crown similar to King Triton's.

"The sea and all its spoils bow to my power!"

"Watch out!" Sora yelled.

The giant Ursula's tentacles attempted to smack us, but we swam upward to get out of the way and out of the smokescreen of darkness. She sent after us a barrage of attacks. From lightning bolts raining down to exploding bubbles. A few times, she tried to suck us in and eat us, but we managed to swim away. She got angry after one too many strikes to her head.

"Insolent fools!" she roared, and a beam of energy shot out of her mouth right at me and Sora. We split before it could hit and swam laps around her head to keep from getting caught up in the beam as she rotated around. The pattern of attacks wasn't difficult to find. It was a little bit of a challenge getting around the sporadic thunderbolts, but we fought our way through to the end to defeat Ursula.

* * *

"Huff... Huff... Huff..." I panted heavily and held my sword arm as Ursula was drained of her power. My fingers loosely held the Keyblade just enough to keep it from falling down into the abyss. "I think... we finally beat her."

"Yeah... I think we did it," Sora said, coughing.

She receded into the darkness, choking on bubbles. A beam of golden light shot up from the darkness, spitting out the golden trident that was once lost. Ariel gently took it into her hands and admired its beauty. She looked extremely happy getting it back from Ursula.

"Come on, let's go back to the palace," she said, holding it tight.

We set off to the palace right away and weaved through the remaining Heartless. Ursula's defeat didn't seem to register with them. It was likely that they didn't need someone like her to lead them around. Their focus had to still be on finding the Keyhole. Luckily, there were not as many as before. An annoying amount of them, sure, but it was a little more tolerable.

King Triton got his trident back after all the trouble, and he was on the fast track of recovering from the wounds he received from Ursula's attack. He had a smile on his face, though it was a bit hard to see because of his wild beard. The king's harsh gaze softened when he saw his daughter returning with the trident.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry," Ariel apologized profusely to King Triton.

"Please don't be angry with her," Sora pleaded with him.

"None of this was her fault." I tried reasoning with him myself, but he only looked away.

"No..." he murmured. "All of this was my fault. Ariel. You followed Ursula because... Because I wouldn't let you follow your heart. And when you found that crystal, I lost my temper and destroyed it. I am the one who should be sorry."

 _The crystal?_ I blinked.

"Oh, yeah," I remembered. The tiny fragment that I picked up from the crystal's remains was still on me, and I held it out in front of me to admire it. Without the rest of the crystal, there really was no point in holding onto it. I let it drop to the floor of the throne room. "Why did you destroy it in the first place? Any special reason?"

"That crystal held the power to reveal this world's Keyhole," King Triton explained. He paused and leaned back in his throne with a grim expression. "The Keyhole is dangerous. I had to keep you away from it at any cost."

"Daddy..." Ariel dropped her shoulders.

He sighed and turned his head toward Sora and I, "You children who hold the keys. I have a request to make: Seal the Keyhole."

"But, without the crystal-" Donald was going to protest, but King Triton held up a hand to stop him from saying any more.

"My trident also holds the power to reveal it," he told us. "Will you do it?"

"Of course!" Sora blurted, showing his pearly teeth in a wide grin. "That's what we had in mind from the start."

"Where's the Keyhole, Daddy?" Ariel, stricken by curiosity once more, inquired of him.

"You should know better than anyone, Ariel. It's in your grotto," her father stated, with a wink.

Goofy bumped into my shoulder and tapped on Sora's, "Sora, let's go and seal it!"

A bright ray of light shined down from above as we entered Ariel's grotto for what had to be the final time. The slot that was in place for the crystal trident was still there, empty and waiting for a replacement. My heart was pounding in my chest. I could sense the power coming from it far more clearly than before.

The trident in Ariel's hands responded to the presence of the Keyhole. It glowed and rose to center itself with the incomplete emblem. I watched in awe as a massive burst of bubbles rose up, until a flash of light divided the current.

In the center of the grotto, a transparent wall formed with the Keyhole in its center. Sora took that as his cue to use his Keyblade to seal it while the rest of us looked on. The job was done and the light faded away, dimming the grotto back to its usual lighting. _I guess it's a happy ending for this world, too._ I smiled, folding my arms.

"Tell me, Sora," Ariel approached my friend. "Your world, what's it like?"

"Oh, about that... I'm sorry for lying to you," he rubbed his biceps nervously. "It's a nice place, though."

"It's okay," Ariel giggled and shook her head. "Besides, if you can travel to other worlds, maybe I can, too. So many places I want to see... I know I'll get there someday. I'll find a way. Somehow. I'm sure of it."

"Well, if you find it, do me a favor and leave me out of it..." I glanced behind me and saw Sebastian holding his head. He must have followed us to make sure that everything turned out okay.

Ariel then went over to one of the many treasure chests in the grotto and picked something out. She returned to Sora and placed it in the palm of his hand. "Before you go... This is from my collection. I want you to have it."

"T-Thank you, Ariel," Sora accepted it. "We won't ever forget you."

"Good!" she exclaimed.

* * *

The palace and grotto were all behind us now as we swam out to the open sea. In the middle of the deep blue, the gummi ship appeared before us with an enormous bubble surrounding it. I paused to admire it for a moment, but that pause lasted a lot longer than the others thought it would.

Before they entered the bubble, Sora halted and turned around to face me. He looked confused, likely because I stopped following them. Donald and Goofy stopped, too, and they were standing behind him. All of them were waiting on me.

"Is something wrong, Kara?" Goofy asked.

"Hey, we have to go and save the next world," Sora said, pointing over his shoulder at the gummi ship with his thumb.

I was still looking up at the gummi ship, but my eyes were drooping. It wasn't because I was tired or anything. Well, after going through that mess, I was about ready for a long nap. The gummi ship would have been the perfect place for that nap, but I couldn't get on there with them.

"I..." my voice hitched, just as one of those Corridors of Darkness opened up nearby. A soft gasp slipped through my lips when it appeared. _Could that be from Maleficent?_ I wondered to myself. She must have been waiting for me to finish up in this world. _Ah, but if she's paying attention to what's going on here, then she must know what happened. If I made her angry, then she might try to do something to Kairi._

"I don't like the looks of that thing," Donald readied his staff. "Everyone, stay back!"

"Maybe that there Maleficent is trying to attack," Goofy assumed.

 _Look._ My head shot up at the sound of a strong voice. I looked all over for it around me, but it was just another one in my head. It was so loud and clear. Did it have something to do with this corridor? I wasn't sure. All I knew was that no one else heard it but me. _No one is coming out of the Corridor of Darkness. Nobody will. Seems like they're waiting for you to go through it. So, what are you waiting for? Isn't there still work to do?_

 _What am I waiting for? Work to do?_ I ran my fingers through my hair and shook my head. _Oh... The reason why I came here was to find the princess._

 _Heh, that girl isn't a match_ , claimed the voice in my head. _A naive heart like that? That's a no go. Try again in the next world._

Reluctantly, I swam toward the corridor and reached out my hand to touch it. It was right around that time when my body began to feel heavy and out of balance. I was only inches away from it, and my tail was going numb. A soft and hardly audible groan sounded from the back of my throat. Then, it hit me. Ursula was no longer here, so the spell she cast on me was wearing off. Only minutes remained before I returned back to normal, which meant potentially drowning again.

"Kara!" Sora called out to me frantically. "W-What are you doing? What's happening to you?!"

"Get back over here, you nincompoop!" Donald waved his arms around.

"Gwarsh," was all Goofy could get out.

I winced. It was getting harder to breathe like this. Waiting around any longer was not going to be possible, but I hated leaving them without an explanation. They at least deserved that much. Sora deserved to know, but I had doubts about how ready he was to know what was going on with Kairi. Not just yet. But how could I say anything without sounding evil?

Corridor of Darkness behind me. I was about to leave them behind. Yeah. All of it made it look like I was turning over to the dark side. But, that was not going to happen! It was just that Kairi needs help. It was critical for me to go and find the princess that Maleficent was talking about.

"I know you won't understand now, but I can't go with you guys," I said shortly. My hand plunged into the darkness, and it pulled me inside the corridor. Gradually, my body was returning back to its normal self. I could see Sora's face. His expression was a mix of shock and confusion. "Maybe we'll run into each other again."

"Are you..." Sora's voice trailed off.

I couldn't hear him anymore. The darkness blocked the sound of his voice. All I knew was that I was on my way to the next world to find the princess. A note that Maleficent left with me said that it was going to be Oogie Boogie's world- Halloween Town. He might have some clues about the princess. It might be worth the visit.


	48. The Magic of Halloween

Halloween Town really lived up to its name. The setting as a whole was beyond spooky and creepy, defining holiday. All buildings in the town were decorated with bats and carved pumpkins. There were also skeletons lying around, and also gravestones. I found the red and black sky to be daunting. It was like it was died with blood. And some guy named Oogie Boogie lived in this world? That was hard to believe, but he was probably scary looking, too.

I wasn't going to stand out too much during my time in Halloween Town, which was evident after roaming around for a while. Some kind of magic resonated with me as soon as I got on the other side of the corridor. It transformed my clothes into something like a Halloween costume.

My ordinary clothes were traded out for a black dress, the fabric hanging over my ankles tattered. A black spider choker was around my neck. I had a dark red cape over my shoulders. The collar went up to my earlobes and partially hid my face, and the rest of the cape stopped at my hips. It was nice to have to keep my bare arms warm.

Something was over my right eye. Feeling around my face, my fingertips trailed over a soft material. It was an eyepatch. Lifting it up, I could still see out of that eye. So, it was just a part of the costume to add to the spooky theme. And, on top of my head was a pair of... cat ears? I played with them and pulled at them to try and take it off, but no luck. The ears certainly felt real. They were silver like my hair. At least they matched.

"There you are!" shouted Sora as he came running through a squealing gate. And, of course, Donald and Goofy were right behind him. All three of them had changed into Halloween costumes. "I thought we'd never find you."

"Eh?" I blinked my one visible eye a few times. "Sora? I knew we'd run into each other again, but I didn't think it'd be this soon."

"Gwarsh, this sure is a spooky place," Goofy looked around nervously. "I'll bet the people here are scary-lookin', too."

"Don't worry, Goofy," Donald gave him a pat on the arm. "We look spooky, too. If they scare us, we'll scare them right back!"

"You think so?" Goofy asked, still not quite convinced in spite of his spooky appearance. It eventually got into his head that they were kind of scary. He chuckled as he usually did and perked up. "Oh, boy! I can't wait to get some candy."

"Oi..." I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "You guys really are something."

"Yeah?" Sora frowned. He folded his arms and jabbed a point at me. "Well, you're something for running off like that. Care to explain?"

I turned away and shook my head, "It's... nothing that concerns you. Sorry. Anyway, let's go together from here on out. We can find the Keyhole, and I can find the prin- Ahem! I mean... Er. Um. What are we standing around here for?"

"You okay?" Donald asked.

"I'm fine," I excused myself and turned the other way. _Might not be a good idea to bring it up with them right now._ "Let's just go."

The four of us left through the gate to get to the town square. It was strangely quiet, and none of the world's residents were outside.

I walked around a bit and examined the fountain at the center of the square. Instead of it being filled with clear water, it was a neon green liquid. It glowed, too. More of it was spilling out from the statue, until something clogged and it stopped running. So the fountain was out of order until someone decided to fix it.

 _Kabooom!_

An explosion from nearby rattled the town square, startling all of us. I regrouped with the others and scouted out the scene. A plume of black smoke rose from a building not too far from where we currently were. It wasn't a lot but a fire was probably started.

"I wonder what that's all about," Sora eyed the smoke.

"We'll check it out later, but we've got company right now!" Donald said, whipping out his fancy new staff.

I lowered my head back down from watching the rising smoke and spotted the group of Search Ghosts all around us. They suddenly appeared and without alerting any of us. Hunkering down, I brought out my Keyblade and braced myself for a fight.

The Heartless were staring right at us, but they didn't move. After a few minutes of doing nothing, I approached one of them and poked it with the tip of my Keyblade. Again, it did nothing and didn't respond to the poke. _That's funny. Why aren't they attacking?_ I folded my arms and studied them thoughtfully.

"Looks like they're broken," Goofy pointed out, waving his hand in front of another. "What do we do?"

"The Heartless won't attack us," I muttered. "I guess we can try and figure it out later."

We were going to slip by and continue exploring the town, but then a shadow passed by us to the right. A short man wearing a very tall hat huffed and puffed to get to the top stair at the town hall building. "V-Visitors!" he panted. Pulling up a megaphone, the man with a painfully huge smile caught his breath and cleared his throat. "And now, allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares- Jack Skellington!"

I gasped when the Heartless started moving again. They shoved passed us and lined up in an orderly fashion, directing our attention to the fountain. A strange sensation brought chills to my spine when a tall and skinny figure rose from the water. Droplets of the green liquid dropped from his pointy tuxedo collar and fingers. He was all bone- a dead but living skeleton. Jack the skeleton gave his best and spookiest pose.

He sure gave us the creeps, but we clapped at the fantastic entrance.

"Bravo, Jack! Bravo!" the little man said, jogging up to Jack. When he darted around us, I saw a white face on the back of his head. That might have been the creepiest thing I ever did see today. Those ghosts will be a big hit at this year's Halloween!"

"Thank you, thank you," Jack said, stepping out of the fountain. He nodded approvingly, but his big smile turned into a frown. "Their movements still need a little work. It's just not scary enough. I want to strike bone-chilling terror."

Donald nearly fainted when the walking skeleton made a terrifying face, and he clung to Goofy's leg in fear.

"I'm going to consult the doctor."

The two-faced man stood there for a moment, when a thought came to his mind. "Then I'm going to tend to the decorations!" But, before he got to decorating anything, he skidded to a stop in front of us with a wide smile. "Hey, kids! Those are quite the costumes! Welcome to Halloween Town! You know, as the mayor, I must say that Halloween means everything. Jack and the rest of us are always working hard to find new ways to scare people."

"That's... nice?" Sora smiled awkwardly.

"Ah ha ha, yeah," I shrugged my shoulders. "W-What would Halloween be without a little scare? Am I right?"

"You're most certainly right, little miss!" the mayor said. His body, and not his head, spun around in a grand gesture to what I assumed to be everything. "These Heartless folks look great, don't they? This year's theme is _The Heartless Halloween_! Luckily, Jack found a book that talks about the Heartless."

"What?!"

"There's a book for that?" Sora choked on his surprise.

The mayor was still rambling on about something relating to Halloween while we ran off to follow Jack. _A book that contains information about the Heartless..._ I was surprised that something like that actually existed. In the wrong hands, it could potentially turn out to be a very dangerous thing, I was sure about that.

Sora swiftly opened the door to a laboratory, and we went inside to investigate this unusual situation with the book. The lab was huge and equally creepy to the rest of the town. Weird gadgets and tools were lying around everywhere. Someone was very active in some kind of experiments. And they were doing something right now as we walked inside. I saw an innocent Heartless lying on a metal table.

Off to the side was a pale man in a wheelchair studying the unconscious Heartless. He must have been the doctor responsible for the Heartless and their unusual behavior. The one that Jack said he was going to consult before.

"I don't understand," Jack Skellington said, scratching his skull. He looked frustrated and was searching the bookshelves for something. "Maybe the guidance system was damaged in the explosion."

"Nonsense," the doctor scientist scoffed. "My devices are always perfect!"

"Oh, I've got it!" Jack blurted, pointing at something in a humongous book on the desk. He smiled again and approached the table where the poor Heartless laid. "Why, of course! The Heartless need a heart! Doctor, do you think we can add a heart to that device?"

"Certainly," the doctor said, wheeling himself to the end of the table. "A heart's not all that complicated. Let's get to work."

"To make a heart, first take a container with a lock..." Jack read out loud. The doctor pulled out an oversized and stitched up object that resembled a heart. It even had a pulse, which made my stomach churn.

"Hmm, we need the key to this thing first!" the doc announced and pointed at the sealed lock.

I hugged myself and groaned. The four of us were huddled together at the doorway. Neither of them seemed to notice us standing there. Sora, for whatever reason, had a peculiar grin on his face. He didn't seem at all disturbed by anything that he saw, not even the experiment going on right in front of us.

"I don't think it'd hurt anything," Sora said confidently.

"You're really gonna unlock it for them?" Donald, stupefied, questioned Sora.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I mumbled.

"Why not?" Sora tilted his head to the side. He had his Keyblade out already. "If they succeed, we won't have to fight the Heartless, right? Besides... I want to see the Heartless dance, too! Don't you?"

"Geh, not really." Donald and I shook our heads.

No matter what we said to convince him otherwise, Sora went on to help with the experiment. The lock was undone by the Keyblade's power, allowing for it to proceed as they planned. I stood back with my arms folded across my chest. My eyes never left the Heartless. It had no life in its limbs, possibly a result of that explosion.

"My! That was amazing!" Jack exclaimed, amazed by my friend's simple display of power. He studied the heart for a moment but stopped to look closely at Sora's smiling face. "Uh, and you are..."

"Sora," he introduced.

"Well done, Sora!" Jack grinned. His lanky form walked over to Sora in a friendly manner. "Actually, I'd like you to be a part of this year's Halloween celebration. Your friends look spooky, too, so they can join in on the fun."

"Great..." I pouted.

"Awesome!" Sora's face brightened for a moment. He then pointed at the Heartless. "What's this Heartless doing here, though?"

 _And how do you even know about the Heartless_ , I wanted to ask.

"Oh, the Heartless came to town just recently," Jack explained. "What's frustrating is I can't seem to them to dance with me. So the doctor and I are trying to improve the guidance system. He's quite a genius!"

I wasn't sure what this guidance system he talked about was. They might have just been trying to get the Heartless to dance, but playing around with them was definitely a bad idea. Those things were unpredictable and predictable at the same time. At any moment, they could snap and try to take the hearts of anyone living in this world. It'd be a better idea to just get rid of them now, I thought.

"Okay, Doctor, let's continue with the experiment. The ingredients for a heart: Pulse. Emotion."

"Terror."

"Fear."

"Hope and despair."

"Mix them all together, and we have a heart!" Jack said.

They put the heart in place and pulled down on a lever to initiate the experiment. Electricity shot into the Heartless, shocking it into life. It had its arms out in front of it as it sat up. Things were looking up for it to turn into a success, but then the Heartless slumped back down, lifeless again.

"It failed!" the doctor dramatically cried. He rushed back to the book and searched anxiously for something to fix it. "Maybe we're missing some ingredients. Let's try adding memory."

I gagged when he literally scratched his brain.

"Sally! Sally! Good-for-nothing girl! I don't know why I bothered creating her. Dally's got the memory we need. I know she does. See if you can track her down."

"No problem," Jack nodded. "Sora, would you like to come along?"

"Sure!" Sora nodded happily.

"What?!" Donald glared at him, as did I.

 _What did we just get dragged into? What did **I** just get dragged into?_ I groaned quietly and palmed my forehead.


	49. To Build a Heart

Jack told us all about the world on our way out to the town square. He also told us a little bit about his friend Sally, who was the Doctor's most successful creation. Apparently, that also meant that she was his daughter. It was a weird thing. I didn't want to bother with trying to understand it anymore.

Back outside at the town square, we were expecting to get by the seemingly harmless group of Heartless to find Sally at her favorite place to hang out. What we didn't expect were those very Heartless running out of control, attacking everything in sight. Half expected... So it was totally expected that they'd do something like that at some point.

The mayor of Halloween Town was running back and forth, avoiding the rampaging Heartless as best he could. He was screaming into the megaphone he had and demanded that they leave him alone. We surrounded the mayor and staved off the Heartless so that Jack could take him away to safety.

"Jack! Jack!" the mayor cried, still using the megaphone. "We have a major crisis! The Heartless are completely out of control! We can't stop them! The festival is going to be ruined..."

I winced and uncovered my ears, _This is getting out of hand..._

"Hmm..." Jack rubbed his skull thoughtfully. "Maybe our experiment triggered something. Everything will be fine, Mayor. You have nothing to worry about."

"Oh, really?" Donald tapped his foot.

"Come on, fellas!" Jack chuckled, ignoring Donald.

There wasn't a second to lose. We did our best to get rid of the rampaging Heartless first, though Shadows started popping up all over the place. The square was eventually cleared out. It took us a long time to do but things worked out for the better. With the mayor and the rest of the townspeople safe in their homes, we were able to move on to the graveyard. According to Jack, it was probably her favorite place to be compared to anywhere else.

Dark and cold. The fog made the muggy cemetery have an ominous atmosphere. Donald was shivering and holding onto a loose piece of cloth hanging from his arm. At least for a moment is was quiet, but an ambush of Heartless appeared. Some looked like undead mummies, kind of like Donald's costume but better.

"Let's check this place out once all of the Heartless are cleared out," Sora suggested.

"Beats looking around with those things at our backs." I laughed shortly and summoned my Keyblade. A pair of claws whipped around, nearly hitting me in the side, but Goofy jumped in the way and blocked them with his shield. "Thanks, Goofy."

"You're welcome!" he saluted, then went on to fight.

"Come on, you guys," Donald blasted a Heartless with some fire magic. He was grumbling something under his breath. "We've got Heartless to take care of!"

"Don't have to tell us twice," Sora nodded as he swatted away a couple more Shadows.

* * *

The haunted graveyard was peaceful, in a way, with the removal of all the Heartless. When all was clear, a ghostly pup shot out from a gravestone titled _Zero_. It flew around us and began to yipe happily at Jack. Mr Skellington looked tickled by the greeting.

"Ah, Zero!" Jack welcomed the ghost dog, booping it in the pumpkin nose. "Have you seen Sally anywhere?"

"Zero?" Sora and I looked at each other.

"'Cause he's a ghost?" Goofy scratched his head.

"Don't know," Donald shrugged.

But, regardless of our thoughts, Zero got to work with finding Sally right away. He flew around the graveyard and zoomed behind one of the tall statues, and a woman yelped in surprise. Jumping out from behind the narrow stone was a red-haired woman with blue skin. She was covered in crudely done stitches.

She calmed down and patted Zero on the head, then walked around to meet with us. Without a doubt, this was the Sally that the Doctor was sending us after. Unlike everyone else in Halloween Town, she wasn't really scary looking.

"Is something wrong, Jack?" Sally asked the skeleton man in a gentle voice.

"No, everything's great," he replied, seemingly paying no mind to the Heartless attacking the town. "We're going to have the best Halloween ever! All we need is your memory to finish the experiment."

" _Memory_?" she cocked her head to the side. A gear in her head spun, then she pulled something out of her pocket. It looked like a wilted plant picked from a patch of dead flowers. "You mean this? Here. I don't mind. It's a Forget-Me-Not that I found some time ago. If it will help..."

"But, Jack, I have a bad feeling about this. Why don't you try something else? There's still time."

"Nothing could beat what I've got planned!" Jack claimed and admired the flower. He spun around, moving closer to Sally with a sparkle in his empty eye sockets. "Once we give the Heartless a heart, they'll dance just as I envision it. Trust me. You're going to love it!"

Sally still argued against the idea, "Why not have these four star in the festival instead? They both look rather frightful. And funny, too. They'd be much better than the Heartless."

"Yeah!" Sora agreed, as did Donald and Goofy.

"Mmm..." I hugged myself and tuned my head away. "I don't know."

"What? Are you scared?" Donald teased, which earned him a hard tap on the shin. "Ow!"

"Come on, Sora and co!" Jack yelled as he headed for the gates. "We're heading back to the Doctor's!"

* * *

 _Moonlight poured down on the empty graveyard as the young heroes left with Jack and Sally. The light shined on a partially open grave. Its lid wiggled and threw open to release three tiny children dressed in their Halloween costumes. They giggled uncontrollably, hiding their wicked smiles behind grinning masks._

 _"Lock!"_

 _"Shock!"_

 _"Barrel!"_

 _One after the other, they introduced themselves to no one, really. But, the lack of a visible audience was no bother. The three children were far more interested in what was being talked about when Jack was still around. "Did you hear that?" one of them asked the other two, who nodded in agreement._

 _"Yeah, I sure did!" Lock exclaimed._ _"A heart! What should we do?"_

 _"Gosh, you really are stupid," Shock knocked the boy in the red in the back of the head. "Isn't it obvious?"_

 _"Tell Oogie Boogie."_

 _The trio of mischievous youths hurried off for Oogie Boogie's lair elsewhere in Halloween Town. News of the experiment soon met the ears of the villainous figure. Of course, anything Jack Skellington did interested Oogie, especially the fact that the skeleton king was able to nab himself some Heartless. Of course, that turned out to be a bust. Amusing to Oogie, but a major problem for the rest of the town._

 _This talk of a heart was something else. Where did Jack find the resources and smarts to craft a functional heart? Oogie was no stranger to science. He had a lot of creations in and around his lair. The entire place was loaded with crafty ideas._

 _But... a heart._

 _Chuckling darkly, Oogie cornered the children that invited themselves inside his hideout. His natural scare made them tremble and hold onto one another. Now there was no need to chase them all over for more information._

 _"A heart?" Oogie settled down and eyed the children, one by one. "That bonehead Jack is really making a heart?"_

 _"I'll be jiggered! That works for me!"_

 _Swinging around to gulp down a jug of bugs, Oogie grinned and slammed the jug down on the table by him. "Ohh," he moaned, "when I get my hands on that... Well, I've got no hands... but I'm still gonna nab that heart and control the Heartless."_

 _"R-R-Right!" the children nodded their heads._

 _"You kids run along and do me a favor." Oogie straightened his back and looked down at the three troublemakers. "Go and get me that heart."_

* * *

"Yes, this is it."

Doctor Finkelstein was amused when we brought back the Forget-Me-Not flower, though he shot Sally a glare when she stepped inside the research lab. He took the wilted flower from us and took one more look at the big book sitting on his desk. Some mutterings under his breath and he was back to talking with us.

"Now, just one more ingredient," he said. The mayor pointed at the list of ingredients in the book and opened another to share with us. "We need _surprise_ to complete the heart. Jack, if you would."

"Ah, yes!" Jack nodded vigorously.

 _Why is he looking at me?_ I wondered. Jack was smiling. Suspiciously, as a matter of fact. I looked to Donald, then to Goofy and Sora. No one was saying anything about it. They were just watching. _Why do I get the feeling that-_

" _ **GROOOOOAAAAAARRRR!**_ "

"KYAAAAAAAAAA!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"

My heart nearly shot out my chest...

Oh, my vision was becoming blurry. My legs were shaking uncontrollably, too. Where did the stars come from? I couldn't help but fall onto my behind in weakness from the rush of... of... that surprise scare. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Donald cowering behind the bookshelf. Only his wrapped up rear end was sticking out, and quivering.

Then came the burst of laughter from Sora. Goofy was too busy checking on Donald, though he spouted a few good laughs at his pal. As faint as I was feeling at the moment, seeing the wide grin on Sora's face snapped me out of my daze.

I shook my head and pointed an accusing finger at him and the others, "T-That was too mean!"

"Hush, child," Doctor Finkelstein gave a 'tsk' and rolled away with a ghostly orb. "We've got the surprise and memory. Now we can finish the experiment. Let us begin!"

Putting all of the ingredients together, the doctor fiddled around with his power tools and dabbled with the mechanical heart. We sat around and played simple games with Jack and Sally during the wait. It was about an hour later when he finished tinkering with it. He picked up the pulsing organ and admired the work he did to it.

"There you go," Doctor Finkelstein grinned. "This time it's sure to work."

He was wheeling around to the table so that he could get on with the experiment. But, to our shock, a tiny little boy rolled out from under the table and kicked the chair out from under the doctor. The elderly scientist was launched out of his seat and fell to the ground with a thud.

"Oh no!" Goofy yelped.

The heart went flying through the air and landed in the hands of another little boy dressed like a devil. We watched the two join up together with a witch girl, and they all ran out of the lab laughing. Doctor Finkelstein waved his fist at them from the ground, helpless and unable to do anything else to stop them. Right before our very eyes, the heart was stolen.

"What was that all about?" I asked the doctor, helping him back into his wheelchair.

"The nerve of those little hooligans, stealing my work!" Doctor Finkelstein growled.

"What are you waiting for? Go after them and get that heart back!"


	50. Darkness, Darkness, Darkness

The trail we were following to catch up with the thieves had gone cold when we reached the square. They were long gone and out of sight by the time we got outside. No matter how hard we searched, it looked like they were out of town already. Getting the heart back was going to be no easy task, that was for sure.

"We lost them," Sora sighed.

"Worry not, we still have an ace up our sleeve," Jack reassured Sora, slapping his palm against his thigh a few times. Right on cue, Zero came flying out of the graveyard and joined us in front of the fountain. "Zero, after them, quick!"

"Hurry!"

We followed Zero through the graveyard and to the pumpkin patch just outside of town, where we were met with a bunch of hungry looking Heartless. The ghost dog led us to a curly hill, which was called the Curly Hill for just that reason. It was a giant curl in the earth.

From afar, I could see something walking across the curl and over a stone wall. It looked like a porcelain tub, and there were three heads poking out the top. _Must be those little kids_. The trail was hot again with their sighting, I silently mused.

Jack was leading the way after them, and we hurried across a bridge to reach an open canyon. The tub full of children wasn't too far ahead now, but it looked like they were retreating into a giant tower. Or, maybe it was some kind of manor. Whatever it was, it was all sorts of weird with how it was built out of scraps.

"I knew Oogie Boogie was behind this!" Jack sounded angry. He stomped forward and admired the manor from the start of the hole-covered bridge. "Careful, now. He's sure to have this place full of traps."

"Oogie Boogie?" I stepped forward and folded my arms. That was the name of the guy that Maleficent told me to meet up with.

"You know him, Kara?" Sora asked me, following behind me as we made our way to the manor.

I shook my head, "No, but I've heard of him."

"Like in those spooky bedtime stories?" Goofy wondered out loud.

"I hate those!" Donald grumbled.

"Eh heh, I guess you can say that," I laughed at them and continued on the winding path to the top of the manor.

The number of Heartless around the manor was surprisingly fewer than those back in town. It was possible that they didn't have much of an influence around these parts, but it was suspiciously pleasant. Not only that, but they were getting much easier to fight. Either they were weaker, or we were just getting a lot stronger. My bet was on the latter.

Entry into the manor was as simple as simple could possibly be. The door up top was unlocked, so we welcomed ourselves inside. Jack called it the evil playroom, and I could see why that was. There were torturing tools lying around everywhere. But, most importantly, we caught the three runts while they were bickering with each other.

Unfortunately, the heart was thrown into a shoot leading to somewhere else. It was out of our hands now, though we could still catch them and get some answers about all of what was going on. We had the chance to figure out what Oogie Boogie wanted with the heart.

"Get them!" Sora shouted, initiating the challenge of catching all three.

It was a little tough getting them all together in one place, so we split off and took care of one first. They kicked and bit and made it more troublesome for us. The three kids- Lock, Shock, and Barrel- were soon apprehended by Jack when he caught them off guard. We cornered them so that they couldn't escape afterward.

"You've got one chance to tell us why you did it," Jack told them.

Reluctant to answer, the unmasked trio twiddled their thumbs and looked down at their feet. Shock, the little girl, looked up from her feet and smiled even though it was their loss.

"We were just following orders!" she claimed. "Oogie Boogie told us to steal the heart. It's all Barrel's fault! It was his idea to tell Oogie Boogie about the heart."

"Yeah, that's right!" Lock nodded in agreement.

"B-But you guys said-" Barrel was at a loss for words when they openly accused him. I sighed and folded my arms.

"You should be ashamed!"

And the bickering continued until Jack scared them to a stop. The three were splt up soon after we got all the answers we needed. It was now Oogie Boogie who we needed to go and see. Of course, the way to his hideout was unknown to any of us, save for the three who we just interrogated.

Although they weren't supposed to tell us about any levers or green doors, they openly let us in on the secrets of Oogie's manor and pointed out the way we needed to go to get to the main part of his lair. Once we were all prepared with our supply of items and equipment, we entered the secret door to get into Oogie's lair.

Bugs and other disgusting critters crawled all around as we walked down the empty hall. I could have sworn that a couple got squished under my foot. It was so gross. On the plus side, it was only a short walk to the torture chamber of Oogie's lair. That was where he was waiting for us. Well, he had no idea that we were even coming. Our arrival caught him by surprise.

Jack pointed his bony finger at Oogie, having finally caught up to the mastermind of the heart's theft, "Oogie Boogie, give me back the heart!"

"You want it?" Oogie held up the heart for us to see. In a split second, he gulped it down with a loud swallow and emptied his hands.

"Well, then come on over and get it!"

"What?" Sora gagged.

"Now what are we gonna do?" Donald shook his head in disbelief.

"Ahahahahaha!" Oogie guffawed. "Now, let's see if I can get their attention. Oh, Heartless!"

Bracing ourselves for the worst, we all summoned our weapons for when the Heartless showed their ugly faces. But only two of them appeared on either side of Oogie Boogie. We were a little taken back. For someone so wrapped up in darkness, he had little control over the Heartless. Maybe it was just that he had poor control, and they didn't look up to him in any way.

"This is it?" Oogie looked at the Gargoyles. Disappointment was written all over his face. He howled and stamped his foot on the ground. "Nobody disrespects me! Nobody!"

"Let' get him before more show up," I said, jumping down into the ring of the chamber alongside the others.

* * *

Traps were set up so that our way was tampered with. It definitely gave us a hard time when we tried to get close, and Oogie threw some exploding dice at us so that we couldn't get up to his point. Although, we used our heads in the battle against him. The dice were big enough for us to deflect them with ease, and they were launched right back into Oogie's face.

And while the others dealt with what few Heartless there were, Sora and I cornered Oogie Boogie and teamed up to fight him. He was slow and rather weak for a big guy. Although, he still gave the two of us a little bit of trouble with more tricks he had ready. We managed to beat him and put a stop to the obstacle course he made after some time of fighting.

"Noooooo!" was the last thing uttered out of Oogie's mouth before the bag of bugs burst open.

I cringed at the sight of thousands of bugs crawling around my feet. They were running away and not bothering us, but it crept me out. Only one remained, but it was crushed under Sora's foot. All that remained of the villain was the empty bag that used to be his body, and the heart that the doctor made. The menace that was Oogie Boogie, was finally stopped.

Perhaps it was a waste for Jack and Finkelstein to make that heart. While Oogie was able to summon a couple Heartless, I didn't think that it was because of the heart. It had to have been something else. The power of darkness. There was no way that something artificial like that could completely replicate a real one.

"So, that heart was a failure after all," Jack whined. The mechanical organ was withering away. He was disappointed by it, but Jack quickly got over it. "Come on, let's let the doctor know. There's no reason to stay here."

"Yeah, we'd better go." Sora agreed and followed after Jack.

We just barely got back across the bridge when the ground started to quake and rumble. Goofy nearly tumbled down into the canyon, but Donald and Sora made sure to keep him up with us. The bridge behind us collapsed and broke apart, leaving us with no way across to the manor. Actually, there was no manor to go back to. In its place was a transformed monster. Parts of it looked just like Oogie Boogie, and it sounded like him, too.

"Huh?" Jack ran ahead and peered into the debris-covered canyon. "Unbelievable."

"Whoa!" Sora gasped. "How did he get so big?"

I stood at the edge of the cliff and examined the transfigured Oogie from afar. Darkness seeped out from his seams. All over, there were protruding globs of a dark substance. The atmosphere was so heavy because of it. I could recognize that feeling from anywhere.

"Look at those things," I told the others, pointing out each glob. "He's being influenced by the power of darkness. Oogie Boogie is drawing power from those dark globs, I bet."

"So we just have to destroy those things, right?" Sora asked me.

"It's the only way I can think of," I nodded my head.

"Then it's worth a shot!" Jack patted my back and jumped down into the canyon. His skinny legs effortlessly carried him down so that he could pursue the globs of darkness. "Come on, fellas!"

"Do we have to go down there, too?" Donald shakily looked down at the great view. It made him shudder, but Goofy stood behind him to keep him from running away.

"We gotta help!" the shield knight declared boldly, adding a little more surprise to our day. That was the greatest thing he ever did say yet.

"Okay, then let's do it," Sora hopped down, followed by the rest of us. With all our might being poured into our attacks, we fought against Oogie Boogie in his monstrous state. He was an even worse challenge like this, though.

* * *

A couple of times during the battle, we were getting scorched by a flying lantern coated with fire. I wasn't sure which part of it was worse, but all of it had a bad vibe. Some of the dark globs shot out fire, too, but we quickly took care of them. But because they were all so far apart, we split up into two teams to get the hob done.

One by one, the dark globs were erased, and the influence of darkness was no longer over Oogie Boogie. His giant form, as a result of the loss of darkness, melted away into nothing. The entire manor that he fused with broke down until nothing was left. There were no Heartless left to fight, either.

"This light..."

Sora stepped forward as the moonlight shined down from up above. Something was unusual about it. In the middle of a ring of debris, some of that light reflected and was shaped like a Keyhole. Okay, so it wasn't small like any of the others that we had seen. It took up a lot of space, nearly all of the open canyon.

I was amazed by how skillfully Sora sealed the Keyhole. The beam of light shot into the air and burst into small pieces of light that rained down onto the Keyhole. Light filled it, and it locked like all the others. It eventually faded away until we were left to our own devices.

"Simply amazing," Jack wowed the spectacle.

"It sure is something," I said with a smile. "Well, we'd better head back to the doctor's lab."

Back in town, we were glad to see that the Heartless were no longer tearing apart the town. Things were finally calming down, and the residents were happy to be rid of the problem that plagued them. We returned to the research lab with Jack to meet with Doctor Finkelstein and Sally, who were eagerly awaiting our return.

Jack, saddened for some reason, approached Sally with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Sally, why didn't I listen to you?" he said in a low tone, dropping his head.

"Don't feel bad, Jack," Sally told him comfortingly. She didn't seem mad about it at all, showing us just how patient of a person she was. "We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together."

"I... I guess we have no choice," Jack smiled back at her, taking her hands in his. Keeping her hands locked with hers, Jack turned to us with his joyful demeanor returned. "We'll have to cancel the Heartless Halloween festival for now. Thank you for your help in saving the town. I do hope you kids visit us again real soon! It'll be the scariest Halloween next year!"

"Oh, joy..." Donald grumbled.

"Emotion, memory..." the doctor started his mumbling again. "We put in all the necessary ingredients. What else do you need to make a heart? What is a heart, anyway? I can't seem to figure it out..."

"Heh, it's a whole mix of things," I said quietly, but he must not have heard.

"Guess it's about time we left," Sora said to Donald and Goofy. We left the lab and walked together to the woods outside of town, where the gummi ship was hidden. I wanted to see them off, at least, before I went off on my own. No sign of any corridors, anyway, so I had some time to kill.

 _I think this is far enough_ , I thought as the gummi ship came into view. It was a little different looking than the last time I saw it. There were more weapons and gummi blocks used for its armor. Cid must have set it up with an improved defense system. If he did, then that was very kind of him.

Slowing to a stop, I glanced around and picked a direction to walk. The forest was a little more confusing to navigate than the town, but I figured that my way out would show up eventually. Before I could even start off for wherever, a hand grabbed me by the wrist gently. My one visible eye widened with surprise, and I looked back to see Sora lightly gripping my wrist. After a minute, he let me go.

"What?" I asked him simply.

"Kara, come with us," he said after a long moment of silence.

"Pass."

"What?!" This time, all three of them jumped. It startled me, and I stepped back when they reacted to my response. They were in unison the whole time. "But why?"

How was I supposed to explain it without making myself look bad? Better yet, how was I supposed to explain my situation to them without causing any future problems? Now that we were face to face, I had little wiggle room with it. That made things worse. Maybe it was best to get it out of the way, or I could be as vague as possible. Ah, kind of like one of those silly games we used to play when we were little. It was a game where someone tried to guess a word after being given lousy hints by other players.

Thinking about it, though, it sounded silly playing around with Sora like that. Mean, even. Wasn't Riku supposed to be the one who teased and taunted him? I wasn't very fond of the role.

 _Any minute now, Maleficent should have a corridor open. Then, I can just leave_ , I thought to myself.

"Well?" Donald quacked after a few more minutes of silence.

I turned around with a wince. The corridor should have been open right about now, I was so sure of it. But, nothing did happen. We were all standing around in the middle of the woods, awkwardly. _Maybe I should have went the other way before we even got out here_. Looking back at them, they seemed determined to get some kind of an answer out of me. This was the worst. I was hoping to get out without having to deal with something like this. _Oh, well, guess there's no avoiding it now._

"I came here looking for someone, but it doesn't look like she's here," I said, finally. My arms were folded across my chest as I looked out at the yellow moon sitting behind the thicket of trees. "Mm... Maybe it was just a waste of time coming here. It definitely didn't turn out the way I was hoping."

"Huh? I don't understand," Sora cocked his head to the side. "Who're you looking for?"

"O-Oh... No one that you should really concern yourself with," I waved my hand. "Anyway, I'd better get going. I need to keep looking."

"Wait!" he ran up ahead and cut me off. I paused in my walk again and raised a brow.

"What?" I mouthed.

"If it's something important, then why don't we go together?" he suggested, holding out his hand. "We can get a lot more done if we work as a team, you know. It beats doing things alone. What do you say?"

"Ah..."

"Yeah, we all said that we were in it together!" Goofy chimed in.

"We are your friends," Donald stepped up beside me.

"You guys..." I sighed and smiled at them. "Fine, I'll go with you for now."


	51. Are Things Falling Apart?

"And then, we fought this giant genie! It was incredible. There was lava flying everywhere, and fire, and also rocks. You should have seen it, Kara!" Sora excitedly told me the tale of his adventures with Donald and Goofy. He covered much of what happened inside Monstro when we were split up, and now he had just finished telling me his story about what happened in Agrabah.

Hearing about it now, it made me wonder if we were there at the same time. Everything kind of matched up. Well, that was if my thinking didn't mess me up. Who was to say that that was actually right? I had no idea, but Sora's story was neat. He must have experienced so much on his own with Donald and Goofy. We all did, actually. Everything that we were faced with helped us grow so much already since our simple living back home.

"There was this huge explosion!" Sora illustrated some kind of an explosion with his arms and made the sound effects himself. "It was so cool."

"Sure sounds like it," I giggled softly and half smiled.

 _No, that's not really what I want to say_. He was too busy reenacting his tale to notice me staring off into space. I rested my chin in the palm of my hand and watched him without much care. Sora made it sound so exciting, but I wondered about that. Was fighting Heartless and saving the worlds all that fun? Sounded super serious to me. Yet... _I'm glad you're having a great time, Sora._

"By the way, Kara," he paused in his story and leaned back in his seat.

"Uh-huh?" I crossed my legs and leaned forward.

"You said that you were looking for someone back there," Sora went on. "Was it Kairi? We haven't got any leads on her yet... but I'm not giving up!"

"Oh, well... I don't think it's all that important right now," I tried skirting away from the question, though he wasn't paying much attention anyway. Donald was yelling at Sora from the front seat about something. He was a little hard to understand when he was upset. His words usually turned into loud duck noises whenever he got angry or frustrated.

The usual bickering, I should have known. I shook my head and relaxed some while the gummi ship went on in its course for the next world. Traveling around like this was nice, and it felt good being back in the ship again. It was as comfortable as ever.

"Hm?" I heard Goofy fumbling around with something by the monitor. Looking over his way, I noticed something on the radar scanner. The blip in the middle was us, but there was another, bigger blip just below it. "That's funny."

"What is it, Goofy?" I asked him.

He got up and pulled up a rear-view of the debris-filled space behind our ship. There was supposed to be only debris and passing by ships used by the Heartless, but something real big was fast approaching. I squinted my eyes at it and stood up to get a closer look. _A flag?_

"Uh, a big ship is catching up to us," Goofy announced, prompting Donald to jump back into the pilot's chair.

"Wack!" Donald yelped, maneuvering the gummi ship in the nick of time to avoid getting hit. The ship zoomed around us, giving me the chance to see several cannons hanging over the side. "Quit gawking! That's a pirate ship!"

 _Could that be..._

Before we knew it, the pirate ship was turning around to confront us yet again, but this time it was on course to ram right into our ship. Avoiding it was no easy task. Donald did everything he could to steer us in the right direction, but it only got right in front of us again. I held on tightly to the armrests of my seat and clenched my teeth at every close call. Only now, it didn't look like we were going to be dodging anything anytime soon.

"It's going to ram into us!" Sora exclaimed, bracing himself for impact. "Hold on tight!"

I clamped my eyes shut as the ship closed in on us. The last thing that I had seen were the jolly rogers of the pirates ramming into the gummi ship. My body was launched onto the floor of the cockpit. We might have been hit a second time. Whether it was the first or second impact that rattled our vessel, something caused for the systems to fail.

"Ugh..." I groaned.

Lights were flashing all around me, and the gummi ship's alarms were going off at the same time. Other than that, things had finally calmed down. I got up to my hands and knees when my head stopped spinning. Someone was screaming. It sounded like Donald and Goofy. _Oh no, where are they being taken?!_ I wondered, alarmed by the shady figures boarding the gummi ship. My body was too shaken for me to get up all the way. _Darn it... I can't move._

To my side, Sora was being dragged away by another, though he was able to fight them off and leap out the broken windshield. _Is he crazy?_ I shook my head but realized that we were no longer in space. Somebody had pulled the gummi ship up to the pirate's.

I supported myself and climbed outside. A chilly breeze dried my face as I wobbled out onto the main deck of the ship. Familiar looking woodwork. The way the ropes, cannons, and other things were set up, I was able to recognize it all. _I think this is trouble_.

"Hiyah! Yah...! Ha...!"

"Sora?" I gasped, seeing my friend fighting off pirate-esque Heartless. Gritting my teeth, I went to take a step closer to him, but a hand pulled me back by the elbow. "Ah!"

"O-Oh... Riku."

"Don't rush over there recklessly," Riku told me coldly. He let me go shortly, but the strength of his hold felt bruising to my skin. I rubbed at the stinging pain. "Go, stay with Kairi on the upper deck."

"Okay..." I slowly walked passed Riku and climbed up the ladder.

Just as he said, she was sitting out on the upper deck and a couple of pirates were keeping an eye on her. For pirates, they were more on the wimpy side. Just one glare at each of them, and they retreated inside. _Well, I'm glad to see that you're still unharmed_ , I smiled softly at Kairi. Patting her head, I let her lean against my leg while I stood next to her. Riku joined us after a little bit, but he was looking down over the rail.

The fighting going on down below had stopped from what I could tell. Then I could see him walking out across the deck. No more Heartless stood in his way, but he didn't see us immediately. I heard a low growl coming from Riku. His back was to me, but I saw his hands gripping at the banister.

"I didn't think you'd come, Sora," he said in a low voice. I detected a hint of irritation. Although, he lightened up and leaned forward against the oak wood. "Good to see you again."

"W-Where are Donald and Goofy?" Sora asked from where he stood, where we both had a good view of him. "And Kara! Where is she?"

"Those two nuisances?" Riku shook his head. "Are they that important to you? More important than old friends?"

"Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking... about _her_."

Riku stepped out of the way, letting Sora see Kairi by me. Naturally, Sora's eyes widened when he saw her slumped on the ground. Her eyes were half-lidded and devoid of life. He just couldn't see it. "Kairi!" Sora called out to her, but his words met with deaf ears.

"That's right," Riku scoffed and gestured to Kairi. "While you were off goofing around, I finally found her."

 _Sora!_ I knitted my brows together when that Captain Hook guy blocked Sora from coming to us. If he wasn't careful, then it was likely that he'd end up getting hurt. He made me worry. Now was not the time to be carelessly running around. Riku was acting... different. And those pirates were another matter altogether. Not to mention the possibility of more Heartless lurking around.

"Not so fast, boy," Captain Hook grumbled out loud, for all to hear. Just then, more Heartless appeared and had Sora surrounded. "No shenanigans aboard my vessel!"

"Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless?" Sora questioned him, then he saw me standing with Kairi. "Kara-"

"The Heartless obey me now, Sora. Now I have nothing to fear," Riku interrupted, snapping his fingers to summon forth another grouping. My eyes widened in shock. Two of them were at Riku's side, and they approached me and Kairi. I knelt down and hugged her close protectively. _Better not get any closer, or else I'll have no choice but to fight._

Thankfully, they backed off. Perhaps not because of my glaring eyes, however. I gasped and saw movement behind me. Yellow eyes peering out from my shadow, which rose from the ground somewhat until _her_ head and arms were free.

'Thank you,' I mouthed to my shadow.

"You're stupid!" Sora's voice hitched at the end. The both of us were, more or less, in disbelief. Although, Sora could hardly contain his aggravation. "Sooner or later, the'll swallow up your heart.

"Not a chance," Riku said. "My heart's too strong for them."

"Riku..." Sora, less than thrilled, took a step back.

"I've picked up a few new tricks as well," Riku mentioned. He extended his hand forward and smirked. "Like this, for instance."

It was just like when he made my shadow rise. Sora's became warped and rose from the ground and became animated with its own will, though his disconnected from him. The shadow Sora hovered above the deck in front of Sora, mimicking his movements.

"You can go and see your friends now."

On Riku's command, a trap door opened under Sora's feet and sent him falling into the ship's lower level. Most likely, it took him to the jail cell. I moved Kairi so that she was lying back, and I ran over to the rail with my hand reaching out for Sora. It was too late. The only thing remaining behind was his shadow.

"Oh, no," I mumbled, dropping my arm. "Sora."

"Hmph," Riku looked away and whistled to the pirates down below. "Let's gt under way, already. And keep Sora away from Kairi until we're ready to land."

He roughly pulled me along back to Kairi, but Hook's voice stopped him short. Apparently the pirates didn't know that we were still within earshot. Hook had some colorful things to say. _"That scurvy brat thinks he can order me around!"_ he was saying. And then something along the lines of doing nothing. Was it the number of Heartless on the ship that disturbed him?

I grunted when Riku pushed me forward to Kairi. Whipping around when I got back to her side, I glared hard at Riku. "Mind telling me what that was?"

"Nothing," Riku said plainly, picking up Kairi.

"Nothing?" I repeated. "So, bragging about how you control the Heartless, using the power of darkness to do whatever you did to Sora's shadow, and throwing him down into the brig is... nothing."

"If I were to let him be, then he'd try and ruin everything," he told me as we stepped inside the captain's quarters. Going down a staircase, we entered a cabin where a girl in a blue dress stayed. She was quiet and only briefly looked at us before turning away. I could see a chain restraining her by the ankle. _Another prisoner?_ Riku placed Kairi in the corner and led me back out into the hall, closing the door behind him.

"The Heartless will throw him back into the brig if he tries escaping. And while he's down there, we'll make way for Hollow Bastion."

"You've really gone mad," I growled, jabbing him in the chest with my index finger.

A pair of swords pointed at me threateningly from behind. The Heartless that were with Riku before still hung around, much to my dismay. Apparently they didn't like anyone acting so... confrontational towards Riku. I was hurt by it. Not like hurt hurt. Emotionally hurt. Tears wanted to fall, but I swallowed the lump in my throat and sucked back the tears. Surprisingly, two balls of dark fire shot out from his hands and struck the Heartless. The monsters he summoned were destroyed by his own hands.

"Don't forget, we still have a lot of work to do if we want to save Kairi," Riku said to me. "Maleficent went back to Hollow Bastion. We'll meet up with her there with the princess and see to it that Kairi wakes up again."

"I refuse to help her anymore!" I yelled at him, swiping my right arm out to the side. But Riku's hand shot up and grabbed my forearm. I winced and noticed the dark haze in his eyes. No longer were they pure. Something was obscuring the light that once filled his aquamarine orbs. "O-Ow!"

 **"I'm not giving you the choice to run off and play hero."** Darkness engulfed his hand that held me. It didn't do anything at first, but then I felt a sharp pain in my arm. Like the darkness was biting at me.

"R-Riku... your're hurting me," I stifled a cry and tugged my hand away, though he didn't let go. After a few more tugs, he seemed to snap out of it finally. He released me, and I backed away until my back bumped into the wall. A painful imprint of darkness was etched into my skin. It throbbed and hurt to look at. I gritted my teeth and held it in my other hand.

"Kara," Riku's angry tone became gentle, almost apologetic. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't realize-"

"Don't..." I dropped my head and pushed through the pain. "Maleficent is using you. She's using us for her own agenda. Why can't you see that?"

He sighed, "I really am sorry, but we have an important job to do. Just let it go, for now, and we'll deal with her after we take care of Kairi."

"Get cleaned up and meet me back in the captain's room when you're done. And, Kara, stay away from Sora until we're there."


	52. This is not the Life of Pirates

_"You don't say?" Goofy chuckled as he looked up at Sora from where he was lying down._

 _"Yeah, it was definitely Kairi," Sora grinned wide and tucked his hands behind his head. His bright blue eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as he looked up at the rotting wood that made up the ceiling. It was a gross sight, but he was beaming with happiness after taking into account the great joy that came with discovering Kairi's whereabouts. "I've finally found her._

 _"Alright! Then let's go up and talk to her," Goofy suggested._

 _"Yeah!" Sora agreed without any second thoughts._

 _"Sounds great. Okay, but first..." Donald nodded in agreement to the plan. But, he was less than enthusiastic. "How about getting off?!"_

 _"Oh, sorry."_

 _The trio got caught up in a heap, unexpectedly. It happened while Donald and Goofy were talking to each other in the brig, right after being taken captive by the pirates. Then, Sora dropped in from above. They were taken by surprise and didn't have the time to move. A worthy reminder of their first meeting in Traverse Town, but alternated._

 _Sora got off of them and searched around the brig for a possible escape route, but it was a failed attempt at getting out. The small, rectangular window in the door gave him a limited view of the corridor outside. He could see the teams of Heartless frequently pacing in front of the door._

 _"Ahem!"_

 _Jumping down from Donald's back, Sora turned around to see a shadow dancing behind a load of barrels and crates. That shadow was talking, was their first thought when they heard the voice. But, no, it was a boy all along. A boy wearing a tight green outfit with a matching hat._

 _"How ya doin' there? Lookin' for a qay out?" the boy asked, soaring out from behind the stuffed boxes. He was surprisingly cheerful in spite of being locked up alongside them._

 _"Who're you?" Goofy asked, amazed by the brief performance._

 _"I'm the answer to your prayers!" the ginger boy declared. He proudly posed before the trapped trio, but his bold display was unconvincing. Pouting, the green boy folded his arms and looked the other way. "Okay, then. Fine. Have it your way."_

 _"You're stuck in here, too, aren't you?" Sora questioned him._

 _"No." The mysterious boy replied shortly. He seemed displeased with Sora for asking such a question. It was suspicious, but he admitted to them the reason why he was there. "I'm waiting for someone."_

 _"Who-" Before Sora could ask, a ball of yellow light zoomed passed his head. It jingled and spiraled around his body. Flying away, it knocked Donald in the back of the head teasingly._

 _"Tinker Bell, what took you so long?" the boy shook his head, capturing the light in his hands. When he released it, the radiant light dimmed down to reveal a small fairy in a short green dress. The junior heroes found it strange that, when the fairy talked, her voice was like a chime of bells. Yet, the stranger locked up with them was able to understand everything, apparently. "Great job. So you found Wendy?"_

 _Jingle. Jingle. Jingle._

 _"...Hold on. There was another girl there, too?"_

 _Jingle! Jingle!_

 _"Are you crazy? There is no way I'm gonna leave Wendy there!" the boy argued back at the tiny fairy, Tinker Bell._

 _"Aha," Donald held his stomach as he laughed. "She must be pretty jealous!"_

 _The remark earned him a swift kick to the bill from Tinker Bell. She gave a tiny huff and flew out of the cell from the small window in the door, leaving the boys to themselves. But her partner called out to her as she went out, "Come on, Tink! Open up the door!"_

 _"Ahem..."_

 _Sora, Donald, and Goofy leaned against the unlocked door. The boy grumbled something under his breath and glared at them._

 _"I'm Peter Pan," he introduced himself and held out his hand for Sora to take._

 _"I'm Sora," Sora replied with a smile, and he reached out to take the extended hand, but it quickly retracted back to Peter._

 _"Okay, we're in this together, but only 'til we find Wendy," Peter said snobbishly._

* * *

Most of the pirates on board Hook's ship were in a craze. Their ranks were polluted with Heartless, and it was clear that none of them were loving it. They stayed outside at all times, until it was curfew. Some others were so intimidated by the nasty looking Heartless that they chose to sleep up in the crow's nest instead of their own rooms. And when they did go inside, it was to grab a quick meal or to quickly speak with the captain. It turned into a ghost ship after a while.

I passed by no one when I walked through the halls. It was deafeningly quiet this time around, more than what I was used to. Left and right, the Heartless were strolling around as though they really were pirates. But, their true nature could never be hidden underneath the poor disguise. The red and black emblems was apparent on the Heartless pirates' chests. So many of them were in the ship, outside, too. Some flew in the sky around the vessel and others were in the water. I was eager to avoid contact with them regardless of the fact that they weren't attacking due to _Riku's_ orders. They walked around me; I weaved through with much space in between, until my arms were grazing the splintering walls.

The burning anxiousness bubbling up in my chest had made me sick to my stomach, until I made it to the privacy of the bathroom in the lower quarters of the ship. Now that I was finally alone, I was starting to feel much better. My shaky fingers switched the lock so that nobody could get in, and I stood in front of the sink to admire the troubled face in the mirror. _I don't know how much more of this I can take..._

Not apparent before were my trembling fingers. A throbbing ache in my arm frequently snatched away my attention from everything else around me. It wasn't broken, but it sure felt like it. Perhaps the best fix I could give it was my Cure magic. The whitish green glow seeped into my skin. Nearly all of the pain was replaced by relief. But, I was still shaking involuntarily. No spell could get rid of that feeling. At least, not any of the ones that I knew of.

"In... and out..." I repeated, taking in deep breaths. "Phew."

Little by little did I start feeling better. Sort of. Maybe... Not really. I couldn't stop feeling bad for what happened to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. The three of them were thrown down into the brig, where a majority of the Heartless were assigned as a countermeasure of some kind. It seemed like a little much, though. Then again, I could see how Sora might try to break out and try and jump into the mess of things. If the Heartless tried to hurt him and the others, however, I'd put a stop to them.

 _I want things to be set right, but..._ Shaking my head, I walked out of the bathroom with a sigh and made my way up to the captain's cabin. No use in making things worse by keeping Riku waiting.

He was standing in the middle of the cabin. Captain Hook was pacing back and forth anxious-like. It looked like something was eating at him, judging by the troubled look on his face. I closed the door behind me and stepped over to where Riku was.

"It's not her," Riku said to Hook.

"What?" the tall man stopped his pacing and shot a glare at Riku. "So Wendy's not one of the chosen ones?"

"There are seven, supposedly, and Maleficent says she's not one of them," Riku replied.

"Oh, you mean the princesses." I realized at the last minute. Riku nodded and turned to the open window.

"Hoist anchor as soon as possible," he ordered the captain. He seemed awfully pleased giving orders to the pirates. It certainly brought back memories, when things weren't so terrible. "Leave all the dead weight behind, including her."

"After the trouble of capturing her?" Hook resisted. He waved his hook hand around angrily. "And why those seven? What is Maleficent planning, anyway?"

"Who knows?" Riku shrugged his shoulders. He curled his fingers and tensed his shoulders. "As long as it means getting Kairi's heart back, I couldn't care less."

 _Does he care or doesn't he?_ I wondered.

"You're wasting your time!" Hook retorted. There was still some resistance in him, after all. Maybe it was because a teenager was shooting him orders instead of it being the other way around, and it seemed like he was a blind follower. "The Heartless have devoured that girl's heart, no doubt. I'll stake me other hand it's lost forever."

I dropped my eyes to the ground and folded my arms, "I find that hard to believe."

"I will find it no matter what." Riku glared over his shoulder. I saw it and felt a shiver go up my spine.

But, it didn't seem right that Kairi's heart was taken by the Heartless. If it was, then what was her body still doing here? Something about it didn't make sense. _Riku must be right about this. We can probably find Kairi's heart somewhere if we keep looking._

"Uh, Captain..." Smee's voice from the pipe echoed into the cabin.

"What?" Captain Hook yelled back into it. Smee was undoubtedly cringing at the loudness of his voice. I know I was.

"The prisoners have escaped," so his report went. I gasped softly and unfolded my arms. Riku, looking unsettled, listened in on the report, too. "What's more, Peter Pan is with them."

"Blast that Peter Pan!" Hook was shrieking now. The points of his mustache were knocked out of place by the hasty movements of his mouth. "Alright, then! Bring the hostage to me cabin, Smee! Hop to it!"

"Er... Which one?" Smee asked shyly.

"Just get the hostage!"

By _prisoners_ , I assumed he meant those three- Sora, Donald, and Goofy. The Heartless down there must not have been reliable guards if they were able to break out. I was just glad to know that they were still doing okay. My mouth smiled all by itself, I don't know why. They were still in danger. Both the pirates and more Heartless were bound to go after them.

I sighed and watched Captain Hook leave. He mentioned something about getting some fresh air. Every which way, he was at a loss and looked incredibly stressed. I almost felt bad for the guy. He was a villain, though. The sympathy lasted for so long, and then I went back to not feeling any pity.

"Did you have anything to do with this?" Riku, putting his hand on my shoulder, questioned me with the darkest of looks in his eyes. I jumped a little at the sudden feel of his hand, and I turned around to face him. The expression he wore was so... so... inexplicably daunting. Was he really accusing me of something I didn't do?

"No," I muttered.

It was the only thing I could manage to speak. Nerves or something choked back whatever else there was to say to him. Riku's jaw tightened, and he let my shoulder go. This time, he didn't have a bruising grip. He looked somewhat relieved by my answer.

"...Thanks..." he said in a quiet voice, then he looked to the door that Captain Hook went through. "Don't let them touch Kairi. Bring her to me. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I can." I nodded.

Nothing else was asked of me, thankfully. Smee's voice came up again through the pipe to tell the captain that the door was locked, but he wasn't present. It seemed like the typical Smee to go to Captain Hook for help.

By the time I got to the cabin where Kairi and the other girl were being held, I saw Heartless trying to get inside. The door was splintering from them hitting the door with their swords. Occasionally, it cracked open, but someone on the other side was forcing it shut again. It must have been the girl named Wendy.

"Move," I tried to order the Heartless to the side, but they ignored me. I pursed my lips and tried at it again, but they were insistent on not listening. _I guess Riku is the only one who can really give them orders and not just anyone_. But rising from my shadow was the guardian that Riku crafted from the power of darkness. _She_ hissed and hovered behind me with _her_ eyes focused on the Heartless. "W-What are you going to do?"

Not a word left her unseen mouth. The transparent tail that connected us shifted around me as my guardian shadow approached the Heartless. It started with a shove to the one that thwacked the door with its sword first. It stumbled back and responded with a silent glare. All three of the Heartless stared at my shadow now. They were sizing _her_ up. Shortly after, a fight between them broke out. I watched as my shadow thrashed at them with punches and swipes. No kicks because of the lack of legs. But it was a comical brawl that I- we won.

My shadow guardian's golden eyes curved in a frown. _She_ was smiling at the small victory. I smiled back and nodded approvingly.

"Great job," I patted my shadow on the head. "Now, we just have this door to deal with."

It wouldn't budge. There was something big blocking it. No wonder the Heartless couldn't get inside. I took a step to the side and pointed at the door. Nodding, the guardian slammed into the door with her shoulder, forcing it open. _Her_ strength alone was enough to knock down the obstacle.

"Kyaa!" a girl screamed. She was knocked to the ground by the impact. Thankfully, there weren't any injuries on the poor girl. But just one look at the black, ghostly figure in front of her made her faint.

"Hm?" my shadow tilted _her_ head to the side.

"D-Don't worry," I checked on the unconscious Wendy. "She's just unconscious. Please, go and get Kairi."

Kairi was slumped against the wall in front of us. My shadow did as _she_ was told and plucked Kairi off the floor, carrying her back to me while I picked up Wendy. The Heartless would come after her heart if I just left her there. She'd be safer in the captain's cabin. Riku might complain, but I could deal with his mouth better than a lost heart.

"Wendy!"

I jolted back around at the sound of someone's voice. It came from the grate in the corner. Approaching it, I peered down through the tied wire to see a boy with red hair. He looked panicked seeing Wendy out cold.

"What did you do to her?!" he shouted.

I frowned, "Nothing. She just fainted."

"Then giver her back!" he shook the grate.

"If you want her, then come to Captain Hook's cabin," I told him, turning away. But, right when I got to the broken door, there was a small voice. It spoke softly and called out to me.

"Kara?"

Undoubtedly, it was Sora. I swallowed a lump in my throat and glanced back behind me. Not wanting to make Riku wait any longer, I returned to the cabin. Just as I thought, Riku was questioning me about why I brought Wendy with me. I ignored his nagging concerning my actions and let Wendy rest on the couch. Kairi was gently placed in his arms, bringing back the bitter silence.

It was only a matter of time before Sora caught up to us, along with that other boy who had to have been Peter Pan. Anytime now, the ship would be anchoring for us to leave, but how long would that be?


	53. Plans Moving Forward

**A/N** Brace yourselves, we've got a long one on our hands. I hope you're enjoying the story! 50-something chapters in, and we're still not at the end! Until then, tell me about some of your favorite things about either the characters or the story. (^-^)**

* * *

"We leave the girl and the pirates here," Riku told me. He was holding Kairi bridal-style as we stood by the door leading to the deck. "Maleficent should be waiting back at Hollow Bastion. I'll take Kairi there first. Wait here until I get back, 'kay?"

"Right..." I nodded.

"Riku! Kara!"

Riku and I were on our way out of the cabin to go to this other world, when Sora came running inside. He was out of breath and all scratched up from fighting off all the Heartless. His Keyblade was still drawn, and then he saw us. In spite of the injuries he sustained, Sora looked as ready as ever to keep moving. Riku mumbled something, and a puddle of darkness oozed out from the bottom of the door behind him. It slipped around Riku's feet and stopped in front of Sora.

I nearly forgot that Sora's shadow was gone, given dark power. Word went around that there was a creepy shadow scaring everyone. The shadow standing right in front of us was the culprit. But, there was something different about it this time. I couldn't figure out what it was, until I saw the yellow eyes and the cloned Keyblade. It must have been possessed by a Heartless at some point, but the real question was how it got the Keyblade.

Riku's face contorted into a pained expression when he opened a Corridor of Darkness. It had to have been the darkness putting some strain on him, but he ignored it and slipped away while the shadow Sora distracted the real Sora. I had little doubt that it was because of how much he used it in one day. So, it'd probably be a while before he came back, if he even could...

"Riku, wait!" Sora called out, blocking an attack from his shadow.

The fighting went on between Sora and his doppelganger. He struggled here and there, mostly when it split into multiple clones. Then there was a loud pounding in the floor, from somewhere on the lower level of the ship. I examined the spot where it came from. Another trap door. Pulling up the door, Donald and Goofy came flying into the scene with their rod and shield drawn. Neither noticed me standing there, and they quickly rushed in to aid Sora.

 _I... guess that's one way to get them together_ , I blinked.

"There's too many of them!"

"Aw, phooey..."

"We've almost got it."

And they did almost have it, but the shadow Sora was proving to be a persistent foe with how it mimicked all of Sora's moves. Some fought, others danced stupendously. It was a odd mix that I couldn't explain, not even to myself. There was still room for one more to jump into the fiasco.

"Give it your all!" Donald yelled as we all grouped up together.

The Soras had us surrounded. We fended them off until a certain point when Sora regained enough of his energy to muster a decisive blow to the shadows. A move he called _Sonic Blade_. With his Keyblade out in front of him, he zipped all over and took out each shadow Sora. The last one was struck head on. It was all over.

Writhing, the shadow Sora suddenly froze in midair. It's eyes focused on Sora, and it let out a hiss. Not a moment passed before it sunk into a puddle of darkness, which then withered away into nothing. The cabin was quiet again now that the trouble was done away with.

"Thanks for helping us back there," Sora thanked me.

"It's the least I could do." I smiled softly and walked away to the door. But, I stopped when a boy dressed in all green showed up. He was looking for the girl in the blue dress- Wendy. Captain Hook complained about him all the time, so that must have made him Peter Pan. The name was being mentioned all over by the pirates before. "If you still want Wendy, she's right over there."

"What happened to her?" Peter asked, rushing over to her side. The brown-haired girl was still unconscious.

"She fainted," I explained. How that happened was not a story he'd probably care for. But he got what he wanted. He even shooed away the little pixie flying around him to take care of her. "Don't worry, she'll be just fine. I made sure to keep the pirates away from her and everything."

Peter carried Wendy in his arms and turned to the others with a serious look in his eyes. "Well, this is as far as I can go," was what he said to them. "I've gotta help Wendy."

The window to Hook's cabin was kicked open, and the boy flew out into the cloudless sky. We hurried over to the window and watched him depart from the ship. My jaw nearly dropped. I had no idea that he was able to literally fly. No wonder the pirates were so determined to catch him and lock him up in the brig. He was capable of doing things no one else in this world probably could.

"Come on, we'd better find out where Riku went," Sora said, and he ran outside.

"Ah, wait a second... and he's gone." I failed at stopping Sora before he went out, so I ran after him until we bumped into Captain Hook out on deck.

The wig-wearing, fancily dressed man grinned hideously as he eyed each of us. The black twigs of his mustache twitched, and he curled one of them around the hook of his left hand. A few pirates that I had seen up in the crows nest were all gathered behind the captain, backing him up.

"Quite a codfish, that Riku," Hook teased. "He ran off with that little girl without even saying goodbye. The boy surely wouldn't think to come back to see the likes of you brats."

"Run off where? Tell me, where did he go?" Sora questioned the pirate.

"Hmph! To the ruins of Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent resides," he revealed and paused at the sound of footsteps. Heartless appeared, mixing into the group of pirates. And there Smee was with the pixie named Tinker Bell- he had her locked in an empty glass case so that she wouldn't escape. Clearing his throat, Hook continued. "But you won't be going there. Unless you intend to leave your little pixie friend behind?"

"Sora?" Goofy looked worriedly at Sora, who withdrew his Keyblade.

"I... I can't do it..." I watched Sora, shocked that he would let the Heartless surround him like they did.

"Hand over the Keyblade and I'll spare your lives," Hook demanded. "Be glad I'm merciful, unlike the Heartless."

"So, which will it be? The Keyblade, or the plank?"

 ** _Pop... Pop... Pop... Pop..._**

"T-T-That sound...!" Hook tensed up and peered over the side of the boat. Our attention was drawn to a scale covered creature in the water. "Ooh, it's him! The crocodile that took me hand! Oh, Smee! He's after me other hand! I can't stay here! Go away! Oh, I can't stand the sight of him!"

Climbing up the ladder to go back to his cabin, Hook shouted his orders to the plump little pirate named Smee.

"You take care of them!" he yelled from the upper deck.

"Alright, you first," Smee wagged his finger at Sora. "To the plank with you."

Sora obeyed and backed up as the Heartless stabbed the air with their swords. Down below, the crocodile opened its mouth wide open in hopes of catching a nice dinner. I stood on the sidelines with Donald and Goofy. We were all worried for his safety, but then we caught sight of someone up in the crow's nest. Green tights. A red feather. Peter Pan was back but staying out of sight.

Careful not to alert the Heartless or the pirates, I watched him maneuver down the side of the boat, until he was close to where Sora was. His voice was quiet, yet it was still clear enough to hear for anyone who actually paid attention. Apparently, that excluded the bad guys.

 _"Fly, Sora! Just believe, and you can do it!"_

Almost all eyes clamped shut when Sora jumped off the plank. I couldn't bear to watch, but I wanted to know that he was okay. The crocodile's jaws snapped shut the moment I looked over, but Sora wasn't injured or eaten. Instead, he was flying up above the ship. Glitter-like light fell around him.

And then Peter came into the picture and snatched the tiny pixie away from Smee, who then ran away.

"Thanks, Peter," Sora said, landing back on the deck with Peter Pan and the released Tinker Bell.

"Hey, don't mention it," he smirked. "You didn't think I'd leave you and Tink behind, did you?"

"Guys, we still have _them_ to deal with," I interrupted their moment.

While the pirates were all gone away by now, there were Heartless infesting the ship. They had us surrounded, just like they usually did. _You're all going down!_ I locked my lips tight and parried an attack. We split up and took on what we could handle. Peter and Sora flew around and took down the pirate Heartless flying in the air, while I tended to the ones on the deck with Donald and Goofy. Well, that was until they started flying, too.

Goofy treated it as if he was swimming in water, kicking his legs and all. As for Donald, his tail spun around like a propeller and helped him get around to fire magic at Heartless below. I had to admit. It made me feel a little bit of jealousy. Flying looked like so much fun. Nonetheless, we were able to take care of the Heartless.

* * *

Captain Hook's cabin door was locked from the outside. Maybe half an hour passed, but he was adamant in not coming out for fear of the wild animal floating in the water. Peter told us about how he had some good impressions for all of Hook's crew, Smee was probably his best one. And, to take advantage of that skill, he wanted to play a little prank on Captain Hook. We tip-toed over to the door and let Peter go on with his friendly joke, which was impersonating Smee.

Peter knocked on the door, letting Hook know that there was someone on the other side. _"Is that you, Smee? Did you finish them off?"_ a small voice called out.

"Aye, Captain," Peter said, plugging his nose for a nasally tone. "They walked the plank, every last one of them."

Like a spitfire, Hook rushed back outside and looked around eagerly, but he saw no one. It was a perfect distraction that Peter took as an opportunity to stab the clueless pirate in the rear end. Hook screamed and jolted around to swipe at Peter, though he missed.

"P-Peter Pa- blast you!" Captain Hook, now enraged, growled at us.

"Ready to make a splash, you codfish?" Peter mocked him. "Now it's your turn to walk the plank!"

"Mark my words, I will destroy you." Captain Hook spoke no more and attempted to stab anyone in his way with his fencing sword. His attacks were easy to deflect and match. "Why you little... you... That... Huh?!"

"K-Kara, behind you!" Sora shouted.

I tilted my head to the side, confused. He was pointing at something behind me, so I looked. They made it sound like something scary was standing right behind me, but it was nothing but my friendly guardian. _She_ hovered behind me with _her_ arms folded. I rested my Keyblade on my shoulder and smirked.

"What?" I shrugged my shoulders. "There's nothing wrong with my shadow helping, is there?"

"No?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy said in unison.

"Great, so let's finish this!" I nodded to them and went back to fighting off the Heartless that fought alongside Captain Hook.

He proved to be hardly any trouble. Most of his attacks were easy to ready, and we threw back whatever he launched at us. Peter nailed him when he was backed into a corner, and the impact launched Captain Hook into the water- with the crocodile. The last we saw of the captain was him being chased by the crocodile.

We were done, finally. I was glad to be able to rest after the endeavor, and my guardian was, too. She slipped back into being a regular shadow for some time.

"Uh..." Goofy rubbed his chin. "Kairi couldn't wake up, so maybe she's really lost her-"

"Shh!" Donald shushed him, and he added in a kick to Goofy's shin.

I shook my head and glanced over to Sora. For a short while now, he had been in a daze looking up at the stars in the night sky. It made me worry. With Riku disappearing with Kairi, something had to have been bothering him. Or... did I upset him somehow?

"Sora," I stepped forward and gently called out to him. "I-"

"I still can't believe it..." I shut my mouth when he spoke. He seemed so sad and down, but then he shot me a smile. "Can you believe it, Kara? I really flew! Wait 'til I tel Kairi. I wonder if she'll believe me. Probably not. What'd you think?"

"I... Yeah," I sighed in defeat. "She'll be excited hearing about it."

"You can bring her to Neverland sometime," Peter invited. "Then she can try it herself."

"If you believe, you can do anything, right?" Sora asked.

"I'll find Kairi. I know I will. There's so much I want to tell her- about flying, the pirates, and everything else that's happened."

Surely he'd be able to once we got her heart back. If Riku made it to that world with her, then he was probably going to go ahead with opening the door. I rested my hand over my heart and looked up at the sky. Her heart was going to be returned to her very soon. I could only hope that everything would turn out like Riku said it would. But, I wasn't there to see it through.

The little fairy flew in from out of nowhere and dive bombed Peter Pan. He caught her, and she began to let out a storm of chimes and jingles. It was her way of talking, I assumed. But I couldn't understand a single thing that she was saying.

"What's that, Tink?" Peter scratched his head and leaned in close to hear better. "What about the clock tower? You say there's something there?"

"Then let's hurry back to London!"

"You mean... the London?" I wondered, but Peter was already flying off.

"Don't leave us behind again!" Donald shouted, and he flew off after Peter with Goofy next to him.

"Oh, you know I still can't-"

"Hey, wait up!" Sora ran and jumped over the side of the ship to follow after them.

I scoffed and put my hands on my hips. _Suddenly, I feel very left out_. But, my protective shadow provided me with company. _She_ rose up again as soon as the others were getting further away from where we were. Those empty eyes appeared to be longing for something. Maybe they weren't so empty after all. My own shadow seemed to have a personality of _her_ own.

Bringing my head back to gaze at the trail of pixie dust, I let out a sigh of frustration, "I bet you want to do that, too."

 _Nod_.

"Got any pixie dust?" I asked, but _she_ shook _her_ head no. "Thought so. Then what do you propose we do?"

I shouldn't have asked. An idea popped into my guardian's head, and _she_ snuck behind me with a mischievous sparkle in _her_ eyes. A light purple aura enveloped my entire body, and I gradually rose into the air. No longer were my feet touching the ground. I was _flying_. Or floating. Rising to new heights. _She_ was right there behind me to keep me from falling out of balance. So, now we could catch up to the others before they got too far ahead.

* * *

London was such a beautiful city at night, and seeing it from a bird's eye view made it far more spectacular. The meandering river was winding through the city. Soft moonlight glistened in the water's reflection. All of us, except for Peter, wowed the amazing sight. He claimed to be used to it, but the content look on his face told us otherwise. It had to be exciting to him, too. The only time he tried to divert our attention from his feelings was when he asked me a surprisingly complicated question.

"How are you able to fly without Tink's pixie dust?" he wondered.

"Yeah, and what about that..." Donald wasn't sure how to finish his question, so he just pointed at my shadow.

"Is that a Heartless?" Goofy asked.

"What?! The Heartless took your heart?!" Sora nearly chocked as he flew dangerously close to me.

They never failed to exhaust me mentally with all the questions. No, was the answer, along with a shove to widen the gap between us.

I had to be honest with myself, though. There was definitely nothing ordinary about my shadow. It moved on its own and had a developed personality, as if it were human. The way it looked definitely did remind me of a Heartless, but I couldn't accept that. Where was the emblem? Why were we not being attacked? We were connected somehow, in some way. That was really all I knew. Of course, I could easily think up a theory about it, but what good would that do me? I needed real answers.

"There's no easy way to explain it," I told them, keeping my eyes in front of me. "No, my heart is still with me. And no, I don't think this is a Heartless. Let's just call her a friend."

"Does she have a name?" Donald asked curiously.

"A name?" I blinked in surprise. All this time, I never did think to give _her_ a name. Two Karas didn't seem like a very good idea. If my shadow was acting like _her_ own person, then it had to be a unique name to remember _her_ by. But what name could possibly work for a shadow? A shadow that jumped into the heat of battle to help me fight and to protect me from danger. Riku called _her_ my guardian for when he wasn't with me, so why not...

"How about... Guardian?"

"Guardian..." Sora repeated. "Sounds cool!"

"It's sure nice to meet ya, Guardian!" Goofy chuckled.

"There's the big ol' clock dead ahead!" Peter announced, pointing at a giant clock tower less than a mile in front of us.

Wendy was sitting up at the top; her legs swung over the side as she gazed out into the distance. Now that she was wide awake, she gave us encouraging words for us concerning Kairi. She was confident that we would find her as long as we didn't give up. Her kindness really was something. A special heart was what she had. Yet Maleficent said she wasn't a princess of heart.

After talking to Wendy, we flew around the clock tower until we found Tinker Bell swirling around one of the enormous clocks on the side. Compared to the other three, the fourth one was stationed at the wrong time. It was just turning midnight, but this one was stuck at _9:00_.

Fixing the clock face was a simple chore, which Sora begrudgingly took care of. We didn't get nothing out of it, though. Something peculiar happened when we did set it at the right time. As we hovered in front of the clock face, its golden light flashed white and shined radiantly in the middle of London. I hid my eyes until it dimmed down to its usual brightness, then I saw it. The world's Keyhole in between the two and three.

Like a pro, Sora sealed it and locked the Keyhole. No Heartless would ever be threatening it again. I watched it fade away. The Keyhole was so complex, but it sure was beautiful.

* * *

 _"Hey, Sora... and Kara," Riku called out to his friends while they still stood around in the secret tunnel. His bright eyes were gleaming with a burning emotion. It was so hard for him to contain it. "When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures. Not this kid stuff!"_

 _"That might be a lot of fun!" Kara chimed in happily, tossing the rock in her hands away to follow her two friends out._

 _"Sure," Sora nodded slowly, but he was less than enthusiastic about it at the moment. "But isn't there anything fun to do now?"_

 _"Hey, you know the new girl at the mayor's house?" Kara stopped and snapped her slim fingers. The boys turned around to listen in on this piece of information she had been holding onto. "Did you hear? She arrived on the night of the meteor shower!"_

 _"Oh, right!" Sora jumped up. "Let's go and say hi! Race yoU!"_

 _"Sora!" Kara yelled after him and raised a fist, but he was already gone._

 _"I swear, he never slows down."_

 _She was about to chase after him, until she noticed that Riku wasn't coming. He was looking the other way, back at the strange door or window they were looking over mere moments ago. Curious, the girl waved her hand in front of his face to catch his attention, but he was unfazed._

 _"Is something wrong?" she asked him, but he only pointed a shaky finger._ _Following the point, Kara saw exactly what he was seeing. The door. It changed without them even realizing it. The golden trim had her in a trance. "What is that?"_

* * *

 _Riku staggered through the Corridor of Darkness, nearly dropping Kairi in the process. His body was weak and heavy for some reason. The pain he was feeling forced him to place Kairi on the ground while he took a few more steps into the chapel. But, his legs could carry him no more. He collapsed onto his hands and knees in a bid to catch his breath. The pain in his chest made it hard to do even that._

 _Panting, Riku slid his leg under him and rose to a kneeling position. He ran his fingers through his sweaty hair and gasped for air. It would eventually pass, but he had to think before he ever considered using the darkness in such a way again._

 _"It was reckless to bring her here without at least using a vessel," Maleficent mused, having witnessed the blunder at its receiving end. With the wave of her hand, Heartless appeared near Kairi's body. They were unique and pureblood. Not the typical Shadow, but something much more menacing- Neoshadow. As soon as Kairi was taken out of the chapel, Maleficent returned her attention to Riku. "Remember, relying too heavily on the dark powers could cost you your heart-"_

 _"ROOOOAAAARRR!"_

 _A startling howl made even the atmosphere around them tremble. Riku jumped to his feet and looked back behind him at the darkness filling the hall. It came from the outside, but he felt no need to worry about it very much. Now that his composure was regained, Riku smirked and stood strong._

 _"A castaway," Maleficent said. Surely, the supposed castaway came from the last world she had visited with the Heartless. A beastly figure. "Though his world perished, his heart did not. When we took the princess from his castle, he apparently followed her here through sheer force of will. But fear not, my dear Riku. No harm will come to you. He is no match for your power."_

 _"My power?" Riku faced Maleficent, unsure of what she meant._

 _"Yes, the untapped power that lies within you," she explained to him. "Now, child, it's time you awakened that power and realized your full potential!"_

 _Wincing in pain, Riku groaned as his bods engulfed by a heavy weight of darkness. It didn't last very long, though. Gradually, it brought about a peculiar warmth._

 _"Now, to go and get Kara," Riku grinned._

 _"There is no need," Maleficent stopped him. "The girl will come to us. It is only a matter of time."_

* * *

Now that the Keyhole was locked, we got a new gummi block that must have been for the gummi ship's navigation to other worlds. That was what Donald and Goofy told me. So, that meant that we would be heading back to Traverse Town to see Cid. Before we left, though, we waited for Peter and Wendy to return from their walk around the clock tower. They apparently had something important to talk about.

We could see them turning the corner together. The adorable duo stopped partway to hold hands. It was romantic in a way, but Tinker Bell didn't seem too happy about it. She let out a huff and crossed her arms. Of course, Donald pointed and laughed in a teasing way. If he didn't clamp his bill shut, he would have gotten a kick out of it. Tinker Bell wasn't going to hesitate. The look in her eye silenced him in an instant.

She flew off to circle around Peter and Wendy, then she came back and did the same to Sora. Peter sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, boy," he breathed. "She's gettin' steamed again. Do me a favor and look after her, will ya?"

"What?" Sora looked to me for help, but I shrugged my shoulders.

"She looks eager to go with us," I said.

"Then let's get going!" Donald jumped from the tower and started flying.

"Yeah, we gotta go back and talk to Cid," Goofy agreed and joined his pal.

"Here we go."


	54. The Void Stronghold

"Ah... Uh-huh..." Cid inspected the gummi block we delivered to him. He compared it to the other one on his desk and gave a nod of approval. As soon as he finished up with his observation, the gummi mechanic tossed it down onto the table with the other and stretched his arms. "Yup. Looks like ya found the match."

But, before he left, Cid turned back to us with a weird look on his face. He rubbed the stubble on his chin and sighed.

"By the way... Do you kids know where your going?" he asked.

"Hollow... Holler..." Goofy stumbled over the words.

"Hollow Bastion!" There Donald was with the curt correction. He walloped Goofy in the backside with his magic rod and grumbled something under his breath. "That's where that pirate said Maleficent is, anyway."

"Huh..." Cid nodded slowly. "Okay. Well, Ill be back in a jiffy. Wait here a minute while I get these installed."

 _Hollow Bastion_. The name didn't sit right in my mind for some reason. What was it like? If Maleficent was running the world, then it must have been overrun with Heartless. I couldn't imagine a world wrapped entirely in darkness. Of course, all of the ones we've been to had a lot of them, but the world we were getting ready to set off for had to be a different story. And, then... Riku and Kairi were there, waiting for me.

Sitting down on one of the nearby crates, I slipped a strand of my hair behind my ear with my finger and looked up at the night sky. Seeing the stars up there reminded me of a story Donald and Goofy shared with me and Sora. It came from one of the letters from their king. About how the stars represented the many different worlds beyond this one. And, one by one, those stars were blinking out. We were going to put a stop to that, though. _Soon..._

"Sora!" Donald snapped me out of my thoughts.

The three of them were standing together by Cid's outdoor shop. I felt bad seeing Sora with his head down. Sora didn't look happy whatsoever, judging by how he slumped his shoulders. He wore a deep frown and said nothing to Donald and Goofy. They tried their best to keep him comforted, but it was no use.

"Now, just remember what Donald said to ya," Goofy smiled brightly and wiggled his index finger. "No frowning, no sad faces."

"How can you be so cheerful?" Sora asked them. "There's still no sign of your king. Aren't you worried about him?"

"Aw, phooey." Donald shook his head.

"The king told us to go out and find the keybearer, and we found you and Kara," Goofy chuckled. "So as long as we stick together, it'll all work out okay. Ya just gotta believe in yourself, that's all!"

"Just believe..." he smiled softly and closed his eyes.

 _Is believing really all there is to it?_ I wondered myself. Surely there was more to it than just that. It'd make sense. Just believing would get no one anywhere, right? Believe and _act_. But, that might have been what he was getting at in the first place.

"Eh? Sora, did you fall asleep?" Donald quacked. I watched him poke my friend in the ribs.

Sora's nose twitched, and he snapped his eyes open.

"Huh?"

"What's the matter?" I asked him, walking over to the trio.

"Um, nothing." He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. It didn't seem like nothing, anyway. A whisper under his breath. I thought he was mumbling something about our lost friend. "O-Oh, hey. Cid's back!"

"Oi, I installed that navigation gummi," Cid announced as he walked back over to us. He still looked a little troubled. "Ya wanna know somethin'? That place is crawling with Heartless."

"We're not afraid!" Sora declared, and with our support.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Cid shook his head and shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't know how well it'll get you through, but I installed another type of gummi on your ship. It'll let yours transform into one of them you come across. You know? Like a disguise."

"That's incredible," Donald rubbed his hands together at the news.

"Then we'd better get going," I approached the brick steps leading down to the center of town.

"Ah."

I paused at the third step down. _Is this okay? Taking them along to Hollow Bastion_. If Riku still even cared about keeping Sora away from Kairi until the door to Kingdom Hearts was opened, I was sure that this was going to upset him. My best friend, and my new friends, too, were rushing head on into danger. Maybe it'd be okay if I was going alone, but it was a little too late for that. Cid installed the gummi, and they were told about Hollow Bastion back in Neverland. Unless I stole the gummi ship. Donald would kill me if I did that.

Glancing back over my shoulder at the goofballs, a small frown spread on my face. _They're already dead set on going. I don't think I can talk them out of it, nor would they be fine with allowing me to go by myself_. No use in trying, I already knew what the result would be. Inside my heart, I hoped that Riku would change his mind about all of this and that Sora wouldn't make any reckless decisions. It was a pain thinking of a solution myself.

All three of them were strong, though. It was wrong of me to presume that they couldn't take care of themselves. They were fighting crazed Heartless, too. Not just me. But, still, there were some things I wasn't too sure about trusting them with. For one... helping Kairi. Somehow I had to work around that so that Riku and I can save her.

I closed my eyes with a heavy sigh, _Everything will be just fine. All I have to do is believe._

"Oh, hey, mind if we pay a visit to the Coliseum before we head to Hollow Bastion?" Sora inquired.

"What for?" Donald grumbled impatiently. "We don't have a lot of time as it is!"

"Think about it," Sora snapped back. "We'd be a lot stronger after training with Hercules, then the Heartless would be no match. Right?"

"That's... a valid point."

"Oh, and we should go see Merlin, too!" he brought up again.

"Now you're pushing it," Donald stomped his foot on the ground.

* * *

The road to Hollow Bastion was incredibly tough. In the ocean of stars alone, there were countless numbers of Heartless to fight through. It wasn't an easy course. However, that transformation gummi that Cid installed turned out to be a real help. Most of the way, we managed to slip through a blockade of obstacle Heartless. That was until the gummi got damaged somewhere along the route.

Nonetheless, we did prevail in the journey to the world. I saw it very clearly through the window of the gummi ship. That world was massive compared to all of the other ones we ventured through. _So this is where Riku is waiting._ I gulped and unbuckled my seat belt. And it was also where we would be running into Maleficent and the Heartless. The presence of darkness was very strong where we were. I could only imagine just how bad it was down there.

"Have you got everything you need, Sora?" Donald asked him during preparations for transporting down. We all checked our individual supplies. I counted up all the potions and ethers I had on me, and it looked like I was all set. The others gave a nod, signalling that they were also ready to go. "Good, now let's get out there!"

With the ship set on auto-pilot, Donald used his magic to take us down to Hollow Bastion. I braced myself when a sensation bubbled up in the pit of my stomach. We were falling. Gritting my teeth, I looked down below at the spot we were sure to land. It didn't look like a soft landing.

"W-We're going to have to glide down!" Sora yelled at the top of his lungs.

How could I forget? Since leaving Peter's world, the power we gained from the adventure there was put to good use in learning an extremely useful skill- gliding. But I wasn't that comfortable doing it by myself. _Guardian!_ I mouthed and thought my protective shadow's name, and she appeared. With her help, I was stable in my descent and landed on the ground without any trouble.

"Phew..." I sighed in relief, kneeling down to touch the cold ground with my fingertips. Too bad we couldn't really fly like Peter. Gliding still got us places, though.

"Wow," Donald pointed all around at the water.

An unusual sight. We were in a canyon of sorts surrounded by waterfalls that ran up instead of the usual down. It was more like they were rising falls. Going up the canyon were broken apart platforms that floated midair. Magic might have been holding them up, or an unnatural phenomenon that couldn't be explained by my awe-struck mind.

"Gwarsh, look at that up there," Goofy stepped forward and pointed at something beyond the canyon. We stood toward the edge of the platform we were on and admired the view quietly. A great big castle surrounded by dark clouds lied ahead.

"I know this place..." Sora murmured.

"Hmm, that's strange." Goofy stuck his index finger under his helmet and scratched his head. "We've never been here before."

"I wonder why," Sora folded his arms. He breathed out and placed a hand on his chest where his heart was. "I feel this strange warmth inside, right here."

"Aw, you're just hungry," Donald dismissed his thought, only to be berated.

"Hey, I'm serious!" Sora pouted and glared at Donald.

 _"ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!"_

Not too far away, I was sure, it sounded like a beast was howling. My heart was pounding in my chest, out of worry and something else. It sounded like a real monster rather than a simple Heartless. A thought that crossed my mind was that Maleficent let loose a hideous creature to take us out. Or maybe there was an animal that went loose and was now attacking that castle up there. What if it was going after Riku?

But to get to where our friend was, the obstacle set before needed to be beat. The Heartless that we were warned about made their grand appearance, covering every inch of the canyon between us and the castle. I scoped the rising falls with my eyes but saw no immediate end to the Shadows.

"There's no end to them." I clenched my teeth and held my breath as the Shadows spread out around us. Now that they knew we were here, they were ready to confront us. Glancing over to the others, it looked like they were ready to fight, too. I exhaled and called out my Keyblade. "Let's go!"

* * *

Through the rush of battle, we fought our way through hundreds of Heartless, until we reached one of the upper platforms. We all skidded to a halt as soon as we came across a tall and bulky creature wearing a purple cape. Its tail hung low and fangs bared. Standing across from the beast, to our surprise, was Riku. He had a smirk on his face when he saw us approaching, but his attention returned to the beast in front of him.

"No vessel, no help from the Heartless..." Riku tilted his head to the side as he spoke to it. "Tell me how you got here."

The beast let out a low growl and rested his clawed hands on his bosom, "I simply believed. Nothing more to it."

"When our world fell into darkness, Belle was taken from me. I vowed I would one day find her again, no matter what the cost. I believed I would find her. So, here I am. She must be here. I will have her back!"

"Take her if you can," Riku taunted him.

"Riku!" I shouted.

Who was I to worry, though? Riku's reflexes were surprisingly magnificent, for he was able to back flip out of the way of the beast's claws. He whirled back onto his feet and struck the massive creature with his blade, but it was not a killing blow. I held a hand over my mouth, stunned by what I had just seen. _This can't be our Riku... He wouldn't do something so evil._

"Stop!" Sora jumped in front of the fallen beast along with Donald and Goofy, having had enough.

I hopped up onto the platform and planted my hand on the base of the stone arch in between them. Riku, to my right, scoffed at Sora's bravery and shot me a cold glance. "So, you finally made it. About time. I've been waiting for you for a while now," he said. Riku paused and focused solely on Sora. "We've always been rivals, haven't we? You've always pushed me as I've always pushed you."

"Riku..." Sora took a step, but he hesitated in getting any closer.

"Hmph," was all Riku had to react to it. "It all ends here. There can't be three Keyblade masters."

"Three?" I mumbled. "What are you talking about, Riku?"

"Yeah, tell us what you mean!" Sora swiped his hand out to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Let the Keyblade choose..." Riku trailed off a moment, "its true master!"

The Kingdom Key manifested itself in Sora's hands all of a sudden and without explanation. I was just as surprised as Sora was. He didn't mean to bring it out. But, then Riku held his hand out to it as if commanding it to go to him; thus, began the struggle to hold onto the Keyblade, for its initial master. My eyes widened as Sora fought to keep it in his grasp, but it vanished out of his hands after a minute.

"What?!"

"Huh?"

"What in the world?" I breathed out, seeing it reappear in Riku's right hand. Riku was grinning darkly as he admired it in his grasp for the second time.

"Maleficent was right. You don't have what it takes to save Kairi," he said in a low tone. Riku's chilling gaze fell upon me, sending a shiver down my spine. "It's up to us. Only the Keyblade masters can open the secret door... and change the fate of the worlds."

"But that's impossible," Sora denied it. "How could this happen? I'm the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!"

"You were just the delivery boy." Riku swung it around for practice. But, he eyed Sora for a moment and frowned. There was a wooden sword lying around, one of the ones we used to play with back home on the islands. "Sorry, but your part's over now. Here. Go play hero with this."

The play sword was tossed through the air and landed at Sora's feet. I dropped my head when he fell to his knees. Now that he lost his Keyblade, he looked like a pathetic mess. Riku turned his back on Sora, too, as if taking away the Keyblade wasn't enough. The one guy who I trusted in this endeavor had turned on one of our best friends. It broke my heart. I wanted to cry tears of pain, because my closest friends were being drawn apart.

"Come on, Kara," Riku called out to me from the nearby stairs. I looked up at him while on the verge of tears. He seemingly ignored it and motioned for me to follow him. "Kairi's waiting for us. It's about time we opened this door and set things right."

"Kara..." I looked back to Sora, who slowly raised his head. "Y... You're going to just leave us?"

"..."

I couldn't bring myself to speak. Whether it was the right thing to do or now, I turned away and followed after Riku up the stairs that were cracked or crumbling in some places. It led straight to the castle, where Kairi was. To my surprise, Donald and Goofy were walking passed Sora. They joined us as we ascended to the castle of Hollow Bastion.

Oh, that was right. Their king gave them the mission to find and stay with the Keyblade Wielder. Sora was stripped of that title, it seemed. Would they have stayed with him if I had chosen to? I was also a Keyblade master. From the beginning, though, it did seem like they were only interested in the Keyblade Sora had. Maybe there was something special about it. I had no idea. All that I knew was that we elected to leave him behind with the injured beast.

"Aw..."

"Oh..."

Neither Donald nor Goofy liked the idea of leaving Sora. They were uneasy about their choice. I could see it in their faces when they looked behind them. At least they left him with an apology. Thank goodness Riku called off the Shadows. Otherwise, he really would have been in a tight pinch. No weapon, but he did still have his magic.

 _Sora, please stay safe_ , I silently pleaded for his protection. We'd hurry to open the door, get Kairi's heart back, and join back up with Sora afterward. That was the end I was hoping for. If only it were that simple. Was it even possible considering the circumstances?


	55. Tension Between Light and Darkness

_"This... can't be happening," Sora groaned. His face turned hot and red with a mix of negative emotions. Tears were dropping down onto the gray bricks, but he made no effort to try and catch them. "I-I lost it. I lost them."_

 _In a split second, everything he knew and cared for left him- both the Keyblade and his dearest friends. Donald and Goofy said they were sorry, and he even thought that they would have second thoughts about joining the other side. It crushed his heart when they ran away. And, as for his best friends, the ones he grew up with and spent time with day to day... He couldn't bear them going away._

 _Weren't they all supposed to be a team? Didn't they all promise that they'd stay together, no matter what? Sora was so sure that they did, that they would. Yet, things turned out so differently. It made him sick to his stomach. The truth. He wanted the truth, but he didn't know how to get it._

 _"Grrr..."_

 _The beast that had startled him and the others when they arrived got back up to his feet, and he staggered in his steps. Sora was taken back that he even had the strength to get back up after what he just went through. And now he was going after them, his friends._

 _Sora rushed over to the beast's side when he collapsed to one knee. Despite there being no Heartless around them, there was still the danger of strain. The spiky-haired boy acknowledged the possibility that they could be jumped at any given moment, so he tried to support this man-beast._

 _"Don't move," he ordered the beast. "You're still hurt. It could get worse if you push yourself."_

 _"Why... Why did you... you come here?" the beast asked the boy, paying no mind to his concern. Sora backed off, unsure of what to say. "I came here to fight for Belle. And though I am on my own, I will fight. I won't leave without her. That's why I'm here."_

 _In spite of the injuries he suffered, the beast continued on to find the princess, Belle. Sora watched and then looked down at the wooden sword Riku left for him. Compared to the Keyblade, it was poor in quality and strength. It'd take him ages to defeat even one Shadow, one of the weaker ones. But it beat fighting with his bare hands._

 _Sora plucked it off the ground and looked up at the cloudy sky. There were dark clouds swirling around, making it look like night. His eyes flickered to the castle, where his "friends" were headed. Rather than weakness and self-pity, a burning fire lit and lit up his blue-eyed gaze. Resolve was etching into his heart._

 _"Me too," Sora stood beside the beast. "I've lost so much, but I'm not gonna give up now. I came here to find someone very important to me._

 _For now, it was just the two of them. Sora was determined to get inside the castle to save Kairi, but also to reunite with his friends. The beast, who went by the name of Beast, was there to assist him in his efforts. At least there was someone he could rely on for the time being. Until he got the Keyblade back, there wasn't much he could do._

* * *

 _Jasmine, Cinderella, and Aurora. Snow White, Alice, and Belle._

 _Maleficent was grinning. Her smile spread wide at the sight of the six princesses of heart. Those children did well to assist in this great work, gathering the princesses to open the door to Kingdom Hearts. There was the issue regarding the seventh princess, however. With a sigh, the witch of darkness stepped around the red-haired girl that boy, Riku, found. Encased in a spell crafted by Maleficent's own hands. It was for her safekeeping, for a time._

 _Her stroll went up a staircase coated by a red carpet, until she reached the top. Turning around to face the gathered maidens, Maleficent extended her arms with a content look on her face. The time was now to proceed with her splendid plan. There was no need to wait for those two she had wrapped around her little finger._

 _"O, purest of hearts!" she chanted. "Reveal to me the Keyhole!"_

 _On command, six beams of light gently shot out from the hearts of the princesses and came together. In union, they pointed the way to the world's Keyhole, which was deep inside a portal on the upper level of the hall. Maleficent narrowed her eyes and smirked. She knew somewhat of where it led to. The prize she was looking for waited inside, but she couldn't go inside just yet._

* * *

Riku led us through the castle gates and into the castle. The interior of it was so great and spacious, and so decorative. And this was only the entrance hall. I was surprised to see such a massive room. So this was Maleficent's domain. She had plenty of space to go about her _evil_ ways. Some kind of works were being done inside this castle, and it had everything to do with the darkness. I was sure about that. Maybe the others didn't catch it, but the atmosphere was heavy with the weight of darkness. It weighed down on my shoulders.

I stopped in front of the flowing fountain and dipped a finger into the cool water. It was crystal clear and served as a reminder to... many things that were past. The suits of armor circling the hall were also cool and unique. They gave the castle a peculiar feel.

"This is as far as you two will go," Riku told Donald and Goofy. I peered over my shoulder at them and could see Donald getting all flustered. Strangely enough, he wasn't yelling at Riku like he would to Sora if he said something like that. "Opening the door only calls for the Keyblade and its master, so we will go."

 _We_. The way he said it wasn't sitting right with me. It was putting us on an invisible pedestal, one that I didn't really want to be on. Not in this instance, anyway. All I wanted to do was save Kairi and go back home. Couldn't it be that simple? For once, at least?

"But we were told to stay with the key!" Donald finally protested.

"Yeah, it'd be going against orders," Goofy added.

"Oh yeah, I heard you saying something about that before," Riku narrowed his eyes. "Then, just wait here until we get back. You can relax. It's not like I'm going to break it. Kara and I won't be long, then you can be with your precious key."

"Donald... Goofy..." I stepped over to them. My lips were trembling a little bit, though it wasn't noticeable to anyone but myself. What was there to say to them. My body was moving by itself, speaking by itself. But, in my mind, I could think of a lot of things that I could tell them. _Go back to Sora, he needs you. If you do as you're told, then this'll be over real fast._ Things like that. "I know you're only doing what you're told, but... Please, stay out of the way."

"You can't be serious, Kara!" Donald quacked. "The key-"

"Will be just fine without you," I interrupted.

"Besides, aren't you supposed to be following Sora around?" Riku folded his arms and raised a brow. "You're his friends, right? He's probably getting stomped by Heartless without you there."

"Aw, phooey!" Donald huffed.

"Sora's not that weak, ya know?" Goofy shook his head.

The two of them still had a shred of care for him, yet they still were determined to follow us up the curving stairs. Just then, while we were talking, the gates to the castle opened wide to let in two figures. I looked up with surprise at a boy with big yellow shows and a beast with a purple cape. He was unhurt, thankfully. To think that he'd be able to get around the Heartless without the Keyblade. Did that beast protect him? I had hope that he did.

My eyes fell onto the two of them as they walked inside the castle. Riku sighed and snapped his finger. At that moment, in the middle of the open doors, there stood a woman wearing a yellow dress. Her appearance took the beast by surprise, and he seemed taken by her. But, the mysterious woman dissolved away into darkness. A measly Shadow took her place.

"Belle!" the beast roared, and he dove into the Shadow in a fierce rage.

The doors locked behind the beast so that he couldn't get in, so now it was just us and Sora. We went back down the stairs and stood before him. I stood close to Riku, something that he asked of me, and Donald and Goofy were standing to my right.

"Quit while you can," Riku demanded of Sora.

"No, I won't, "Sora refused. "Not without Kairi."

"The darkness will destroy you." In a sinister yet calm voice, Riku talked down to Sora.

Before my very eyes, his appearance changed into something much darker. His ordinary clothes were replaced by some kind of body suit that showed off his muscles. It was a mix of purples and reds. I could see an emblem on his chest, which resembled the Heartless emblem. This one lacked the crossing lines, however. What was that thing? Perhaps it didn't mean that he lost his heart. Riku was still walking around like Riku. An influence of darkness, maybe.

"You're wrong, Riku," Sora boldly declared, unfazed by our friend's transformation. He moved in closer until he reached the center of the lower foyer. "The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart. My heart will stay with my friends. It'll never die!"

"Really... Well, we'll have to see about that!" Riku exclaimed.

He took the initiative in attacking Sora and sent a darkness-imbued fireball at him. I gasped in horror as Sora braced himself, but ease settled in my heart when Goofy jumped in the way of it with his shield deflecting the destructive spell.

"Sora ain't gonna go anywhere!" the goof shook his head vigorously in defense of Sora.

Riku lifted his chin, "You'd betray your king?"

"Not on your life!" Goofy said. He paused and smiled at Sora. "But I'm not gonna betray Sora, either, 'cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through."

"See ya later, Donald. Could ya tell the king I'm really sorry?"

"Hold on, Goofy!" Donald waddled over to Goofy and Sora in a hurry. "We'll go tell him together. Well, you know... All for one and one for all."

"I guess you're stuck with us, Sora," Goofy chuckled.

"Thanks a lot, you guys... Donald, Goofy," Sora lowered his head. _Thank you_ , I smiled at the reformed trio. "But we're still missing one more person."

"Never mind that," Riku cut in. "How will you fight without a weapon?"

"How?" Sora straightened his composure and stared Riku right in the eyes as he spoke. "I know now... I don't need the Keyblade. I've got a better weapon. My heart!"

Riku scoffed and brought out the Keyblade he snatched from Sora, "Your heart? What good will that weak little thing do for you?"

"Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone," Sora stated. With confidence he stood his ground, showing us that he was not yet ready to give in to Riku's taunts. "It's grown with each new experience, and it's found a home with all the friends I've made. I've become a part of their hearts just as they've become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and them... if they don't forget me... then our hearts will be one."

"I don't need a weapon. **My friends are my power**!"

Suddenly, the Keyblade disappeared in a flash of light, and it reappeared in Sora's hands. It replaced the wooden sword he was going to use to fight Riku, to everyone's pleasant and not so pleasant surprise. Riku looked his hand over once, then twice. His expression twisted as he realized he no longer had the Keyblade. The dark sword, Soul Eater, he used all the time was his one and only weapon now.

I grinned and cheered, "You got it back, Sora!"

"Hey, I did," he smiled.

"Whatever," Riku shook his head. "I've still got one on my side. Kara, give me a hand."

"Don't do it!" the others exclaimed in unison.

"Kara, you can't!" Sora pleaded. "Please come back to us."

"Kara, I need your help," Riku blocked my view of Sora with his own body. I took a step back and gritted my teeth. "Only we can save our friend. Don't let him fool you."

"Come on, we can do it together!" Sora's words entered one of my ears as Riku's went into the other.

I swallowed hard and shifted my gaze from Riku to Sora. The options were minimal. On one hand, I could help one friend to fight the other. And, on the other hand, I would still be helping one friend to fight another friend. There was a division in my mind that nagged at me. Help Riku. Help Sora. But, what would that mean in the end? I'd still lose a friend. Fight or flight was kicking in real fast. I had to make a decision and quick.

 _There has to be something else I can do_ , I thought to myself. Shaking my head, I balled my hands into tight fists and locked my amber eyes with Riku's darkened gaze. If I was to be 100 percent sure about anything, it was that I had no intentions of fighting my friends, and that did include Riku in spite of his alliance with the darkness.

"Riku, I will not fight Sora," I told him, making him scoff at my words. "I won't fight you, either. I just can't... Seeing my best friends fight each other like this hurts."

"Then what will you do?" he asked me.

"Tell me where Kairi is." I demanded for him to tell me of her whereabouts. Hollow Bastion was still new to me, so I couldn't go about it without his help. He was the only one who knew, other than Maleficent. But she was somewhere else in the castle, probably with Kairi.

"Ah, then you can open the door," Riku smirked. "The grand hall on the upper level. If you want, I can take you there after I finish them."

"No..." I glared at him. "I'll go by myself."

Turning on my heels, I ran up the stairs and left through the doors to make my way to the grand hall that Riku mentioned. He gave me the exact directions before I left so that I wouldn't get lost. Their blades immediately began clashing behind me. Of course they would. The tension was ready to break. Light and darkness were in a direct confrontation, and only one needed to get it started. Both of them would be fine. I was sure that it'd work out. It had to.

While I did want to go back and put a stop to it, I had to let the boys be boys. They knew when to stop, hopefully. What I had to do now was go to Kairi. Maleficent could not be trusted. I didn't trust her with my friend's life.

* * *

 _Sora and Riku traded blows, back and forth. Cuts and bruises covered their sweating bodies. When they needed to, they would use healing magic to cure the injuries sustained in their fight. All the while they fought, Donald and Goofy were cheering on the sidelines. The Keyblade master insisted that they stay out of the way. This was a personal matter that he had to take care of by himself._

 _The two former friends brawled for as long as they could, but it soon winded down. Unexpectedly, Riku found himself being forced into a corner. His swift and powerful strikes were being parried by Sora. He growled and grunted with each swing. Yet, the power he poured into his attacks proved to be not enough in crushing Sora._

 _Riku backed off and panted. They had gone on for long enough. His body couldn't take much more, nor could he muster up enough power to release another spell. The dark form he took on to fight his childhood friend faded, too. Grinding his teeth, Riku bit back the rush of emotions he was feeling. No matter what, he had to get away from there. Maleficent could give him more power, he thought. But, having second thoughts, he was worried that he would not be able to get the Keyblade back._

 _"Riku, wait a second!" Sora called out to the defeated boy, but he managed to get away._

 _The doors to the outer hall opened once more, and Beast joined them in the entrance hall. He had missed the action, but he had a feeling that he knew exactly how it turned out. The ears on his head were remarkable in hearing, after all._

 _"So, your heart won this battle," he growled, and Sora nodded. "You did well."_

 _"Thanks," the boy smiled a small smile. "He got away, though. Kara's gone, too, but I think she went to get Kairi."_

 _"...Your other friends?" Beast was curious and inquired of who the other two he spoke of were._

 _"Yeah. So, we'd better follow them," Sora said, leading the way after Riku._


	56. Creeping Darkness

Three Defenders were guarding the entrance to the chapel that Riku told me about. Compared to the other Heartless lurking around the castle, those ones were a real pain to fight. The problem was the shields they carried around. They could shoot fireballs or freezing wind, much like spells I used.

I stepped back into the shadows to hide and pressed my back against the cold wall. Maleficent kept her domain well guarded. Coming up with a way to infiltrate any further was going to be rough, but maybe I could handle myself in another bout. Then again, I had no reason to think that I was alone.

"Guardian."

My whisper fell low, beckoning for my shadow to rise again and manifest into its more combat-oriented form. I couldn't see her, save for the golden yellow eyes glowing in the dark. That stone-cold gaze was piercing and gave me a chilling sensation inside. It was unlike anything else, yet I felt a sense of comfort having her with me... connected to me.

Pointing to where the three big Heartless were, I showed her the dilemma I- we were in. We peeked around the corner and observed them from afar. The Heartless stood tall and still as they were ordered to. With the goal being on just the other side of those doors, they had to be overcome somehow. Brute force was a way if done carefully. It was a little too risky with there being more than one of them. Plus, more could show up while fighting. I had to get rid of them quickly.

I felt a tapping on my left shoulder and glanced over to Guardian. When she saw that she had my attention, she gestured to the Heartless and made punching motions with closed fists. I assumed it meant something like "attack right now".

"No, I'm not too sure that that's a good idea," I shook my head. "We'd get creamed if either of us slipped up."

 _Flick, flick._

"What's that?" I asked.

 _Flick, flick, flick!_

I watched curiously at her fingers flicking downward. The fourth time around, I copied the strange gesture. What did it mean if it meant anything? Flicks directed at the Heartless. I tapped on my chin thoughtfully for a moment, when an idea came to mind, "Do you mean like lightning? Zap, zap?"

Putting the zap sounds with the flicking motions, I questioned Guardian's interpretation of some kind of action. My guess seemed to be spot on, because she gave me a firm nod. _So flicking means light the Heartless with some lightning magic. I can work with that._ For a shadow that couldn't talk, she really had a way with words.

Since practicing with Merlin, my magic really improved, and I was able to do a lot by myself during my own adventures. The others were going to be really impressed when they saw. But, for now, it was time to shine against those three up ahead. Later on, Donald would get his chance to see just how much I surpassed him by.

I darted out from my hiding place with Guardian hovering over me. Three dog-head shields growled and barked, signaling to their Heartless holders that I was near. The yellow eyes of two of them turned to red, letting me know that they were about to shoot fireballs from their mouths. Instinctively, as I ran toward them, Guardian disappeared and reappeared in front of me to shield me from the scorching flames. There should have been some kind of damage done, but I was taken by surprise. Guardian was just fine after a direct hit from the two attacks.

"Stopra!" I shouted with my Keyblade aimed at the trio of Heartless.

The spell worked, and the enemies froze in place. _I should've thought of that before_. Before the spell wore off, I used my Keyblade to slash through the Heartless and finished it with some lightning magic. They faded away and three hearts were released into the air, never to be seen again.

"The chapel is next," I said quietly to myself, resting my hands on the iron door handles. Maleficent and Kairi were through these doors. Knowing that woman, I had to be ready for anything, especially with Sora and Riku not being with me. It'd be my luck if she was somewhere else. That was highly unlikely, though, with us being here.

I pulled the doors wide open and ran in to the chapel with Guardian slipping back into place as my shadow.

The chapel was poorly lit. Dim rays of sunlight poured in from above. Lit torches were lined up along the walls circling around, their green flames staying low. I skidded to a halt when I made it to the middle of the chamber, where Maleficent was standing. With her being right there, I didn't dare to let go of my Keyblade.

"Maleficent!" I clenched my teeth.

Maleficent's back was to me, but she turned around at the sound of my voice. The frown she wore turned upward into an unpleasant smile a moment later. Her arms spread open as if she were welcoming into her home. Yet, I felt far from welcome.

"Ah, so you have fought your way tirelessly to make it all the way here," she said. "We were worried that you were... getting cold feet."

"I'm sure," I scoffed softly. Looking around with my eyes, I saw no way through the chapel. Riku said that the grand hall, where Kairi was, was just beyond this place. What was the big deal? Did I take a wrong turn.

Maleficent chuckled, "You must be looking for someone. If you ask nicely, I _might_ consider helping you."

I furrowed my brows in a cold glare. Trusting her anymore would only make things worse. She already caused enough damage to me and my friends. Or, rather, she caused so much to go wrong in our lives. It was hard enough being this close. And, that whole ordeal with opening the door to whatever this Kingdom Hearts thing was, I found it awfully suspicious.

"I can't trust you to help me like Riku can," I said to Maleficent, openly admitting the uneasiness she left in me. "But..."

"Shush, child," she cut in. "Say no more and behold!"

With the wave of her hand, part of the wall closing in the chapel lifted open to reveal a secret passage. My eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Beyond that path lies your dear friend," Maleficent explained.

"What? Just like that?" I narrowed my eyes. "For someone like you, that's awfully... nice."

"Ah, a clever one," she grinned. "Riku was not wrong. You are a peculiar specimen worthy of staying beneath my wing."

"Then, I shall leave with you a proposition. Do away with that boy and the king's underlings, and you may have whatever it is you desire."

"You mean Sora, Donald, and Goofy," I realized. She was asking for me to eliminate them, I was sure of it. By how those other villains were so bent on crushing them and other heroes from the worlds we had once visited, she seemed no different. "No, I would never! They're my friends, just as much as Riku and Kairi are mine. We've been through a lot together."

"Then, might I have your cooperation if it means something as simple as bringing back a lost home?" Maleficent tried again with her persuasion.

"My home?" I asked, which she nodded slowly to. No, it couldn't be possible. The Heartless tore up this world already, it looked like. Our home that was taken by the Heartless was probably in bad enough shape. Maybe it couldn't be returned to the way it was at all. I doubted she had the power to restore. Her words sounded way too simple to be truth.

I shook my head and denied her offer. "The only thing you will do is let me take back Kairi."

"A girl with no heart?" The smile on her face vanished. "If you must be told again, then let it be. That girl will not awaken unless we open the door to Kingdom Hearts. We have gathered the princesses. It'd be a waste now if you ruined it. Riku would undoubtedly feel so betrayed."

"We'll open the door without you!" I declared, unfazed by her attempts at making me back down. "If... If I have to fight you by myself to save our friend, I'll do it."

"You fool."

Green flames flared up and blocked off the exits, including the pathway to the grand hall. I gasped as a small fire started a few inches away my feet, and I jumped back to get away from it. Maleficent slammed the butt of her staff into the stone floor, invoking more fire to spread about the chapel. The rush of searing flames brought to light a large piece of decor resembling the Heartless emblem.

My heart was beating rapidly in my chest. A bead of sweat rolled down my cheek as I stood against Maleficent. Yet, as fear threatened to seep into my nerves, I braced myself in this fight to free Kairi.

* * *

 _"Why? It was in my hands. It was mine."_ _Riku burst through a set of doors into a dim hall and ran with all his might to get away. His breathing was uneven and steps heavy. The chapel was just ahead, but he stumbled too much and fell to his knees before he could reach them._

 _Panting, Riku got back up to his feet and limped forward, until a voice spoke into his ears like a hissing snake._

 _"Know this."_

 _Riku jolted around and beheld a disproportionately shaped man standing opposite of him, near the doors he had just gone through. There was no face to identify him by- merely an unsettling voice. Where did he come from? And how did he get into the castle without his knowledge?_

 _"The heart that is strong and true shall win the Keyblade," the mysterious man dressed in a dirty cloak spoke again. A bright blue aura enveloped his questionable body._

 _"What?" Riku let go of some of the tension in his shoulders. The words were concerning. "You're saying my heart's weaker than his?"_

 _"For that instant, it was." The man continued. Riku clenched his jaw and vigorously shook his head in denial to these claims. It did make sense, though. He knew very well that his heart soared in power, for he was able to wield the Keyblade as his own. But it was only for a time. Yet, Sora's heart changed. It... surpassed him. "However, you can become stronger."_

 _Seeing the unease in Riku, the cloaked figure stepped quietly to him. His steps were dangerously silent._

 _"You showed no fear in stepping through the door to darkness," he said. "It held no terror for you. Plunge deeper into the darkness, and your heart will grow even stronger."_

 _Dropping his shoulders, the boy sighed in defeat. A part of him remembered the warning words of Sora and Kara, but he pushed the thought out of mind. Strength was what he needed, and this man knew of a way to get him to that stronger point._

 _"What should I do?" Riku asked, lowering his head._

 _"It really is quite simple," the man said, inching closer until he was only a few feet away. "Open yourself to the darkness. That is all."_

 _"Let your heart, your being, become darkness itself."_

 _Riku lifted his head again but a smile was spreading from ear to ear. The darkness. He could feel it empowering him already as he opened his heart to it._

* * *

"Guh..." I gasped in pain and fell to my knees.

My whole body was crying out as each throb brought about merciless aching. Stabbing the Keyblade into the ground, I used it as a support to lean on. _Such power... I had no idea she could beat me so easily..._ Not once did I think she could use the powers of darkness so fluently. Maleficent was on a whole different level. To think that someone like her existed. But, I didn't want to give up.

It hurt climbing back up to my feet. I still had to lean on my Keyblade to stand. The better question might have been: _Why didn't Guardian back me up?_ I was on my own the entire time, which might've explained the embarrassing loss.

"You are no match for me, child," Maleficent stood over me. She called for dozens of Neoshadows to surround me, which they did. "It was a mistake to provoke me in such a way. Have you learned your lesson? Or must I continue?"

"Ugh..." I clamped my eyes shut as another surge of pain rippled through my body. "Sora won't let you have your way, nor will Riku."

"You fail to see the truth," Maleficent sighed. "Heartless, eliminate the girl. I have no more need for her."

All at once, the Heartless dove straight at me with their claws ready to dig in. I wasn't prepared to defend against all of them. The strength in me was dwindling. But, something forced me to the ground as they struck. Their claws didn't reach me... yet. Rather, the figure above me took the ruthless hits for me. I looked on in shock as the Neoshadows were forced back by my hero.

I groaned and settled on my knees. "Guardian? What took you so long?"

She hissed in response and proceeded to hover over me protectively. Guardian saved me at the last second, but that didn't excuse the late arrival. I could have died. Nonetheless, I appreciated the much needed help.

"Oh, what might this be?" Maleficent hummed in interest. She was eyeing Guardian with great fascination, it was creepy. "Perhaps it would have been a mistake getting rid of you. In that case, you may serve me once more."

"I never said I'd help you!" I glared up at her from where I knelt down.

"We shall see about that," she grinned again. "Darkness!"

The Neoshadows were reacting to her call for darkness, much to my dismay. I scooted back, closer to Guardian as the Heartless closed in on us. Several times did I blast powerful fire spells at them, but they were unfazed. Nothing was stopping them in their tracks. It was useless. Yet, in my moment of weakness and uselessness, Guardian continued to protect me. She batted the Neoshadows away with her claws.

But when the Heartless were getting too close for comfort, Guardian threw herself on top of me as they piled on top of us.

"Agh!" I yelped as the darkness smothered me.

The pressure around me intensified as I groped at the ground around me for something to cling onto, but there was nothing. Not good, was my thought at the Keyblade being accidentally knocked away by my hand. _Too much darkness..._ I whimpered as the last bit of light slipped away. The last thing I saw was Maleficent's smiling face, until my eyes could only make out pitch black darkness.


	57. Seething Darkness

_Maleficent entered the grand hall of her castle with a satisfied smirk. Passing by the princesses and Kairi without a shred of care, she climbed the many stairs to reach the presumed location of the world's Keyhole. With a sigh, she mused to herself. Victory was near, so she dreamed. But her daydreaming ended when Riku, in his mode of darkness, joined her side._

 _He stood there, silently gazing up at the mixture of darkness before them. The boy seemed different to her, in a way. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. What was right there in plain sight confounded her. Best not to question it just yet, she thought._

 _"So, I see the path has emerged at last." Riku spoke in a particular way that struck her as interesting. The tone sounded off, as if someone else was speaking for him or something of the like. Regardless, Maleficent dismissed anymore thoughts about the boy. She had more pressing matters to concern herself with._

 _"Yes," she hissed in reply. "The Keyhole to the darkness."_

 _"Unlock it, and the Heartless will overrun this world," he warned, but Maleficent only scoffed._

 _"What do I care?" the witch rolled her eyes. "The darkness holds no power over me. Rather, I will use its power to rile all worlds."_

 _"Such confidence," Riku smirked and held his hand out in front of him._

 _Shards of darkness gathered together in his palm, until it formed into the tool he most desired. A Keyblade. Unlike any other, its blade was charred black, the guard crimson red. This particular Keyblade wowed Maleficent. She couldn't take her eyes off of it._

 _"Oh!"_

 _Bringing it out should have provoked the Keyhole to show. Yet, nothing happened. Maleficent broke her eyes off of the Keyblade in a fit of rage, and she investigated the portal in front of them with her cruel gaze._

 _"Impossible!" she exclaimed angrily. "The princesses of heart are all here! Why hasn't the Keyhole reacted?!"_

 _Maleficent huffed and turned around to look down at her prisoner encased by magic- Kairi. She had done everything according to her plans. The princesses of heart were indeed gathered, but she was met with nothing._

 _"It must be her," Maleficent growled lowly. She brought Kairi closer with the motion of her hand. Gently, she placed Kairi down on the copper flooring and admired the unconscious girl. The seventh princess was not doing her part in this grand plan she formulated._

 _"Without her heart, she will never be able to release her power," Riku revealed._

 _Suddenly, as they came to the conclusion that there was a standstill in their plans, a beastly roar echoed all the way into the grand hall. That sound meant only one thing. Unwanted company was about to arrive. Although, Riku closed off the path to the hall they were in when he had arrived. It bought them some time, but not enough._

 _"The king's fools are here," Maleficent announced. Shooting a glare at Riku, she turned and walked away. "I'll deal with them myself. You stay here and guard the princesses."_

 _He studied her anxious form as she left to deal with their visitors. It was going exactly as he thought it might, but he didn't mind it. There were plenty of other tools he had in his possession now. Riku folded his arms across his chest and muttered a word under his breath._

 _A Corridor of Darkness opened, and stepping through to stand by his side was a feminine figure shrouded completely in darkness. Every limb covered in pure blackness. His eyes traced over the emblem on her torso. It was the Heartless emblem, but it was burning like a fire. And her eyes were as brilliant as the sun, glowing with intensity._

 _"The time is nearing, my friend," Riku grinned, tucking the knuckle of his index finger under her chin to lift her head a slight bit. The long antennae on her head twitched in response to his touch. "Let us wait for our turn."_

* * *

 _Sora and company finally arrived at the castle's chapel room. Getting there turned out to be an incredibly tough course due to Maleficent's interference. Traps were set in a way that delayed their arrival. The lift stop that operated throughout the world was their best way in getting to the point they were at now, though it did lead them on a wild goose chase around the castle's various levels._

 _Their route was not getting much easier, especially now that Maleficent stood in their way. She was much scarier now that they got a good look at her. But fear was not about to make them cower away. Sora balled up his fists and stepped closer to the center of the chapel with Donald, Goofy, and also Beast._

 _"I'm afraid you are too late," Maleficent teased in reference to the world's fall and the door's opening. "Any moment now, the final Keyhole will be unsealed. This world will be plunged into darkness. It is... unstoppable."_

 _"We'll stop it!" Sora claimed bravely, whipping out his reclaimed Kingdom Key. "After coming this far, there's no way we're gonna let that happen!"_

 _"You poor, simple fools." Maleficent let out a breath. Their boldness was wearing away at her nerves. "You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of all evil?!"_

 _Rising above the heroes, Maleficent rode on a cutout of the stone floor by the power of dark magic. She glared down at them with hateful eyes._

 _"Insignificant brats," she muttered. "Prepare to join your friend in the pit of darkness and despair!"_

 _"I don't know what you mean, but you'll be stopped!" Sora declared and faced off against Maleficent._

 _Meteors rained down from above, crashing down into parts of the chapel and destroying a huge portion of the large chamber. Facing a great amount of difficulty, Sora and his friends fought with all the strength they had. Heartless pouring in from outside were caught in the middle of their power._

 _The Keyblade's might, to Maleficent's utter shock, was far greater than she ever did know. She howled as it struck her multiple times, forcing her back against the wall. Nothing was going as she once saw. Sora was not who she thought him to be._

 _"Un... Unbelievable..." Maleficent panted and held her pained side. Limping back, she escaped through a corridor to another part of the castle, but they were right there behind her._

 _Maleficent stumbled forward as Sora chased after her. There was nowhere else for her to go now after her swift defeat. Having been watching the events unfold, Riku arrived with the unnamed Heartless beside him. Keyblade in hand, the boy in his dark mode approached Maleficent in her injured state._

 _"Do you need some help?" he asked the unsightly witch, but she waved him away._

 _"Riku!" Sora called out, but the four of them stopped where they were when they felt the heaviness in the atmosphere._

 _Donald peeked around Sora and noticed the dark Keyblade in Riku's hand. "Is that-"_

 _"Yes," Riku answered curtly. "It is a Keyblade. But, unlike yours, Sora, this Keyblade holds the power to unlock people's hearts. Allow me to demonstrate... Behold!"_

 _In a split second, the dark Keyblade plunged into Maleficent's chest, piercing her in the heart. She gasped in shock, astonished that he would turn on her. But the darkness invading the confines of her heart turned Maleficent's pain into pleasure. So much power was flowing through her body. Rather than an insult, it was a favor._

 _"Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness! Become darkness itself!"_

 _Riku moved away to a more secure spot until the battle was over. The Heartless went along with him and left Maleficent to Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Beast. Baffled, the heroes watched as their enemy transformed before their eyes. This was unlike anything they had ever seen before._

 _"This is it! This power!" Maleficent laughed maniacally. "Darkness... The true darkness!"_

 _"S-She's a dragon!" Goofy hid behind his shield._

 _"No more talking," Beast shoved passed him. "We fight."_

 _Fighting Maleficent in her dragon form was a fight worth remembering, thought Sora as he avoided one of her stomps. It was a fight that he couldn't wait to tell Kairi all about. That time when they drew on the walls of the Secret Place, when they were children, he imagined him and Riku fighting an evil dragon to protect their friend. It was, more or less, happening like he pictured it._ _The green flames spewing from the dragon's mouth were not in the picture he had in his mind, but it was cool nonetheless._

 _They had a tough time working around the fire and enchanted fireballs, but skillfully used magic reduced the amount of damage received. Sora used the overgrown thorns around the massive chamber produced from the transformed Maleficent as an assist in the fight. It got him away from the fire on the ground, so he could easily deflect the fireballs he saw coming with his Aero magic._

 _He jumped onto her back when she wasn't paying attention and proceeded with landing a decisive blow to her heart from the back. The darkness in her heart was pierced by the light of his Keyblade, causing for the dragon Maleficent to wail in agony._ _At her defeat, the thorns withered away along with her body, which was reduced to an empty cloak she wore. It wreaked with the smell of darkness._

 _Riku reappeared and stepped on the wrinkled cloak. "Howe ironic."_

 _"She was just another puppet after all," he mused, squishing it under his foot._

 _"What?!" Donald quacked, but he held up his staff when Dark Riku looked up at him in response._

 _"The Heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning," Riku continued as his only partner left appeared behind him. "She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool."_

 _Maleficent's remains faded away, and Riku opened a portal to return to the grand hall. They left Sora and the others to tend to the highest priority of the moment, seeing to it that the Keyhole to Hollow Bastion was in check. All four heroes left the hidden chamber and found entry into the grand hall, the secret path that had been hidden before._

 _Beast forced the locked doors open with his brute strength, allowing them to continue on to an expansive hallway. But horror reflected in Sora's eyes when he found the missing princesses, some of which he had met in his adventures._

 _"Belle!" Beast howled at the sight of his beloved princess. She, along with Alice and Jasmine, was locked away in a crystal case. Not even he could break through it. Not that he wanted to, for he could end up hurting Belle._

 _"It looks like their sleepin'," Goofy said, checking on Alice._

 _"We can wake them up after we see Riku," Sora said, pointing up to where he supposed Riku might be._

 ** _"So...ra..."_**

 _"D-Donald?" Sora gulped, turning to the magician. "Did you say my name...?"_

 _"No." Donald shook his head, then he looked to Goofy who shrugged his shoulders._

 _"What's that?" Beast pointed at something coming their way._

 _The blue flames lighting six heavy torches swayed violently as a gust of wind spiraled out of control in the middle of the hall. Thin bands of darkness wove together above them, where the source of the strong wind originated. They watched as the darkness balled up into a massive sphere. It splintered and broke into fragments, which were sucked into a dark being._ _It was the strange Heartless from before, when they encountered Dark Riku again._

 _"Wack!" Donald took a step back. "It looks like Guardian!"_

 _"That can't be Guardian, can it?" Sora gulped. He looked around, then back at the doors they got through with Beast's help. After all that they went through, Kara was still not around. Where did she go?_

 _Sora bit his tongue and cast Cure on the team before daring to rush off into battle again. They were still injured from the fight against Maleficent. He wouldn't charge in recklessly, not against this creature. It looked dangerous, more so than Maleficent._

 _Riku appeared nearby, at the top of the first staircase. His arms folded across, the dark Keyblade Wielder admired the view from where he stood._

 _"This time, the darkness will prevail over your hearts," he chuckled evilly, disappearing once more._

 _"We'd never lose to the darkness!" Sora rebuked the taunt and threw his Keyblade at the Heartless in a raid attack._ _The Heartless was struck in the shoulder, and it hissed in pain, but the attack was ultimately unable to do any meaningful damage to it. "What the?!"_

 ** _"So...ra..."_**

 _"Did it just talk?" Donald questioned, seeing the Heartless open its mouth. A black mist rose from the corners of its jagged lips._

 ** _"Do...nald...Goo...fy..."_**

 _"Something's not right about this." Sora hunkered down, bringing the Keyblade back to his hands._

* * *

 _Alone._

 _In the midst of darkness only, she was drifting all alone and sinking into its cold depths. The abyss of darkness pulled her in deeper and gave her no room to escape. She groaned softly and searched weakly with her hands for a hold on something, but she couldn't reach anything. It was almost suffocating. Agonizing pressure built up in her lungs as she gasped for air, yet she was still alive._

 _Her silver hair was sprawled out all around as she plunged deeper into the darkness. It was almost like she was lifeless, but the twitch in her fingers said otherwise. One eye was open, squinting at the lack of anything. Eventually, the other cracked open, too, and stared at the lonely scenery._

 _"Where... Where am I?"_

 _Her voice echoed through the darkness, circling back to her own ears. Another voice. She could have sworn that there was another voice coming back with it, but it didn't come up again. Rather, as her body stopped falling and merely floated in the dark sea, the girl pulled her legs close and silently cried. She let her lips tremble as the phantom pain struck her heart. It hurt as if a blade pierced her to the core._

 _The pain in her chest increased as she squirmed more and more. Yet, with the unbearable sensation she was feeling inside, no tears fell. More stabbing pains haunted her. She felt it in her sides and shoulder. Letting out a muffled scream, her back arched as she gripped her head in agony._

 _Choking on water was what it felt like, but she could still breathe. It hurt to do so, but she couldn't stop breathing. Hugging herself, the girl noticed something approaching. It looked like a light. Something pulled her forward to it without her permission._

 _"Come closer..." a voice within the light beckoned for her. "...Kara... Can you hear me?"  
_

 _The girl's golden eyes widened as she was moving closer to the light. Her head fell to the side in thought as its brightness fascinated her. Somehow, the light knew her name. But there was not a name she could refer to it as. It made her feel bad._

 _"Who are you?" Kara asked, but there was not yet an answer. For some reason, her hand moved by itself and reached out to the light while it seemed to still be far off. But it flashed in response. And, suddenly, her body was propelled forward into its clutches._

 _Kara's body emerged through a wall of rippling water, and she fell onto her front side as soon as gravity kicked in. Landing with a thud, the teen groaned and staggered back to her feet. Her body felt weak and heavy. It was difficult to move, but she found the strength in her legs to manage a few steps._

 _Coughing the water out of her lungs, Kara looked around at the unusual landscape. "What is this place?"_

 _The night sky above her was crystal clear. She could make out the outline of clouds littered with stars. Bolts of lightning were shooting out from them, amazing her. And the land beneath her feet was... certainly not land. It was like an endless sea that she could walk on, but it looked just like the sky. So, what was she standing on? The sky? Or the sea? Perhaps it was nothing at all. There was not even a horizon._

 ** _"It's the end of the road."_**

 _Whirling around to see who it was talking to her, Kara spotted the blur of a shadow. Something shoved her down, but she caught herself and let out a pained groan._ _Kara expected to see herself in the mirror of water below her, but she was surprised to see a distorted reflection in its place._

 _"G-Guardian...?" she swallowed a lump in her throat at the sight of the shadowy figure. It resembled the shadow she carried around with her- the one that protected her from the Heartless. But, what she thought to be Guardian had the Heartless emblem on her chest. Kara gasped at the sight of it and pushed herself back up to her feet. The Heartless in her reflection stood up, too. "I... I don't understand."_

 ** _"Your heart now belongs to the darkness. Behold and see what remains of you."_**

 _Rising from the other side of the reflection, the Heartless manifested before Kara. Its form was semi-transparent, like it was being of water. She could still make out the emblem and the glowing eyes, though. It scared her. Her legs wanted to take her into the other direction so that she could run away, but she couldn't bring herself to._

 _The upbringing of this unusual creature brought about an unpleasant surprise. Kara looked down at her hands and feet, realizing that they had become transparent. Looking back to the Heartless, Kara took a step back. It was the enemy and had to be defeated! All she needed was her Keyblade to do it. But..._

 _Kara gasped when the Keyblade wouldn't come to her. She grunted when a sharp kick to her abdomen sent her flying back. The impact sent violent ripples surging through the crystal clear sea and sky._

 _"Erg... O-Ow," Kara winced, picking herself up. But, she fell back down when the throbbing pain in her head came back. "It hurts so much."_

 ** _"And it will continue to hurt so long as you hold onto the strings of life. Let it go and fall into everlasting darkness."_**

 _"I... don't... want to!" Kara declared in between pants. "Ah... I can't give up. My friends need me. I want to go back to them."_

 ** _"And risk losing your heart in the process? If you succumb to darkness, at least you'd still be in one piece."_**

 _Kara glared at the Heartless towering over her, and she reacted in a wrathful way. She threw herself at the manifestation of her corrupted form and punched through it. It broke into droplets of water and sunk back into the sea, leaving Kara by herself. But another rose again. This time, it was not a Heartless. It didn't even look like a form of herself._

 _"Look at you." The unknown figure chuckled and took a few steps closer to Kara, prompting her to stagger back. His face was concealed behind a mask, and his body was wrapped in a black and white, organic bodysuit. "Fighting a losing battle. Your friends see only a monster that needs to be exterminated. Too bad they can't see the pretty face behind the emblem."_

 _"Who are you?" Kara clenched her teeth, bearing through the pain to demand identity._

 _"Me?" he gestured to himself as if he was clueless. "Who knows? I've been a prisoner in a dark place for a long time now. Can't get out. And it looks like you've become a prisoner, too. Strange we're stuck in this place."_

 _The both of them paused at the sound of an echo in the distance. It was a voice calling out to someone- to Kara. She was able to regain her composure and rose to let the sound of a boy's voice reach her ear. A smile spread across her face as she listened. "Sora."_

 _Kara rubbed her head as it began to ache again, "Sora's calling for me. I have to go back to my friends... They're looking for me."_

 _"If you try, then you risk shattering what remains of your heart," said the mysterious man. He took a step closer and held out his hand to her. "Unless... you open yourself to the darkness. Give up yourself to the darkness, and you can go free."_

 _Glancing up at him through a half-lidded stare, Kara noticed something off about him. As Sora's voice continued to call out, she saw ripples traveling through his body. Another illusion. It had to be. Slapping the hand away, Kara stood her ground and recalled the form of her Keyblade in her memory. She wanted it in her hands now._

 _Something did begin to manifest in her right hand. A small stream of water slipped through her fingers and was given shape. It looked exactly like the Keyblade she used, except it maintained a watery, transparent appearance. However, how it looked did not matter. She used it how she saw fit._

 _Kara glared coldly at the unknown man as she slashed through him with the makeshift Keyblade. He was seemingly unfazed despite his two halves drifting apart. What remained of him gradually broke apart into tiny fragments._

 _"Hah," he laughed as his body dispersed. "Who'd have thought that you had it in you. Oh, well... It was fun while it lasted."_

 _In the far distance, as soon as the masked figure faded away, Kara's eyes witnessed the night sky turning to a deep blue. The sun was rising from somewhere, and it hid away the stars and scared off the storm. She felt at ease seeing the blue sky and white clouds, which reflected in the sea. However, the peaceful feeling disappeared as a sharp pain pierced her chest. A pillar of light rose up for her to see as she crumpled to the ground._

 _Sora's voice was even louder now._ _Crawling to the light, a warm feeling fluttered in her aching heart. Kara smiled weakly as she got closer to it. Her hand rose and tried to grasp the light._

 _"This light," she mumbled, closing her eyes as the comforting warmth spread all over her. "I want... to go back..."_

* * *

 **A/N** Got a longer chapter for you! I must say, I'm almost regretting putting this fic in a mostly first-person point of view. At least there are points where I can switch... Too bad it won't happen all the time. Anyway, enjoy!**


	58. Nothing to Lose

_Sora panted and stood face to face against the Heartless by himself. He shot a swift glance over to Donald and Goofy. They were still recovering from the relentless attacks, as was Beast. The three of them were out of commission for a time, but Sora needed them now. There was no telling how much longer he could stand up to the powerful enemy._

 _Help._

 _There had to be someone who could help them out. Riku was not an option. As strong as he was, he fought for the Heartless now. The only one he could count on for help, apart from the others, was Kara. She had to be there somewhere._

 _"Kara!" Sora cried out one more time and dodged another strike._

 _He fell onto his back but couldn't get up. The stiffness in his body spread all the way up his legs and back. Sora was too exhausted to keep going, unlike his opponent. His blue orbs caught the Heartless in his line of sight, but there was nothing he could do to fight back._

 _It was all over, so he thought. A clawed hand was raised against him; he watched it all the way to the downward motion. Sora's breath hitched, and he nearly fainted, when the claws failed to follow through. He gulped at the inch between his nose and the Heartless's claws._

 _"Sora!" Donald and Goofy called out to him, pulling the Keyblade Wielder back to safety._

 _"What's going on?" he asked, but they hadn't the knowledge to give a proper answer._

 _Instead of fretting over what could be going on, Donald jumped up and pointed at the menacing creature. "Hurry up and finish it!"_

 _"R-Right," Sora nodded and charged all the power he could muster. He shot a beam from the tip of his Keyblade into the heart of the Heartless. It screeched in pain as the light flashed brightly. They had to shield their eyes in order to avoid being blinded._

 _The Heartless let out one final howl, until its body began to fade. Its emblem's glow dimmed, and the darkness making up the flesh of the creature crumbled into broken fragments. Soon, the light faded away, allowing the heroes to see the result of their grand victory._

 _"It... I-It can't be." Sora dropped his Keyblade._

 _"No way!" Donald cried._

 _Rubbing his eyes, Goofy looked on in shock and astonishment. It was so unreal. None of them could believe what they had just seen. But they stopped staring when a silver-haired girl fell to the ground with a thud. Sora, Donald, and Goofy rushed to her side and inspected her for injuries._

 _"Kara!" Sora shouted her name again, pulling her into his arms. He flipped her over onto her back and tried to shake her awake. "Kara! Please, wake up!"_

 _"Grr... Used like a tool," Beast growled, watching over the group in case more enemies showed up._

 _"Donald, you have to heal her!" Sora demanded, but Donald's bill was trembling, and he held his staff close. "Wha... Why aren't you doing anything? She needs help!"_

 _"I'm sorry, Sora," he lowered his head. "All my magic is used up. We ran out of supplies in the last fight against Maleficent, too."_

 _"Oh..." The boy looked down at Kara. Guilt was written all over his face. The whole time he thought he was fighting just another Heartless, it turned out to be his best friend. He hurt his friend. He couldn't stand it. "How did this happen? What can we do?"_

 _"Kara... Please, wake up."_

* * *

 _Opening her eyes after the light, Kara found herself lying down on a stained glass platform. She sat up and examined the beautiful design, the careful curves of the black lines separating the pale colors. Quietly and carefully, Kara arose and walked around the multicolored platform, admiring all that she saw on it. Her amber eyes were curious._

 _A giant portrait of a person made up its face. Kara stopped her stroll around the platform when she met the image's amber eyes. The half-lidded gaze seemed to be focused right on her. And there was another set of eyes, but they were not on the platform._

 _Red and black wisps of darkness rose lingered around this unusual being almost resembled her in terms of physical features. This unknown personage was just so much darker and peculiar. Kara could feel the unsettling change in the atmosphere._

 _"Guardian?" she cautiously took a step closer. "Is that you?"_

 _"I... am the darkness that resides within this heart," the unknown spoke in a loud and sinister whisper. There was a brief pause before it spoke again. And when it did, a blood red claw pointed at Kara. "And you are my opposite. We are one and the same. I am the Anti."_

 _"My... My darkness? That can't..." Kara gasped. Of course it can be, she realized. Every heart in existence had darkness, save for the princesses of heart- the ones who had the purest of hearts filled entirely of light. "So you're the darkness of my heart... a manifestation of it."_

 _"Just as this 'Guardian' is," Anti-Kara, what the youth thought her to be, replied coldly. "One and the same."_

 _"Then you're Guardian?" Kara wondered._

 _"..." Passing over the question, she stepped quietly passed Kara until reaching the edge of the platform. "Voices from the outside."_

 _"U-Um, you mean Sora and the others?" the somewhat confused girl followed. "My- our friends. That's right. Something bad might be happening. I need to go back."_

 _"Then go." Anti-Kara shrugged her shoulders. "It is your heart."_

 _"True," Kara nodded slowly. "Guess I'll see you out there, right?"_

 _"Do you not have a shadow?" Her opposite chuckled and faded away._

* * *

"...ra..."

"...Ka...ra...!"

My eyes fluttered open. The first thing I saw was Sora's bright blue eyes. A single tear was rolling down his cheek. Donald and Goofy were right there with him, and they were staring right at me. Shifting my gaze to a fanged beast, I narrowed my tired eyes. My face softened when I realized that it was just Beast, the furry guy who stayed with Sora after that time when... I'd much rather forget that part.

"She's awake!" Goofy cheered, making me wince. I slowly sat up and peeled off the pair of arms hugging me.

"Ugh..." I groaned, rubbing my temples. "You guys are so loud."

"How do you feel?" Sora asked eagerly. "Does anything hurt? Can you stand? What happened to yomrphfl-"

Squinting at Sora, I planted my hand over his mouth and raised a finger to my lips. Clearly he had a lot of questions to ask, but I was hardly in the mood to sit around and answer them all right now. _This must be the grand hall._

To my left and right were six women were bound to the walls. All of them were asleep- Snow White, Alice, Jasmine, Belle, Aurora, and Cinderella. But, if the six of them were there, then they must have been the princesses of heart Maleficent was bent on gathering together. Kairi was close by. I had no doubt about it.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Sora asked me as I got up to my feet.

Both legs were still operating like they should. A little wobbly, but I was able to walk just fine. There was also some random pain all over my body, but I figured that it'd go away as soon as I started moving around. Ultimately, I was not about to lie down and rest. Kairi needed to be saved.

I paid no mind to the grogginess in my head and made my way over to the stairs on the far side of the hall.

"We're in it together to save Kairi now," I said, taking in a deep breath. Smiling at Sora and the others, I gave them a firm nod. "Don't mind me. This is nothing!"

"Let's skedaddle on over to her!" Goofy followed after me, and Donald was following close behind him.

We all hurried together up the dozens of stairs. until we reached the very top. Donald yelled at Goofy about something. The loony shield hero toppled back down the stairs after running straight into a barrier set up the moment we stepped onto the upper level of the grand hall. I was sure Goofy would be fine, so I paid no mind to Donald's bickering. My attention was all over the place, though.

Copper pipes ran up the walls and twisted in some places. Bolts of static electricity bounced from rod to rod, and a steady stream pinpointed on a single target. It looked like a giant Heartless emblem, the way the bolts matched up against it. What was it? A portal? I could feel the darkness radiating from it. There was something bad about the vibe it was giving off.

 _Could that be Hollow Bastion's Keyhole?_ I wondered to myself.

"Kairi!" Sora blurted and ran up ahead. Scanning my eyes over the unusually empty perimeter, I caught sight of Kairi's auburn hair. She was lying on the ground, as lifeless as she had been for some time now. I bit my tongue and rushed over to her side, but Sora got to her before me and Donald. Sora lifted her up into his arms and lightly shook her. "Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes!"

"Sora," I rested my hand on his shoulder. _You idiot... She won't wake up if you do that._

"It's no use." Our heads whipped around to see Riku sitting atop a cylinder overlooking the grand hall. The ledge was just above the world's Keyhole. An ominous glow lit up his face as he looked down on us. There was something in his hand. A Keyblade! But, where did he get one so quick? Not only that, but he sounded different. His voice was more monotone and contorted. "That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up."

Sora set Kairi back down and stood next to me. His eyes were searching as he studied _Riku_ 's dark form. "What? You... You're not Riku, are you?"

 _No he is not_ , I narrowed my eyes. Just looking at him gave me chills. That person who looked just like our friend was not Riku. The darkness rising from his shoulders revealed that much, as did the peculiar manner of speech. So, if he wasn't Riku, then who exactly was he?

"The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last princess of heart still sleeps," the impostor said, jumping down from the ledge he was sitting on. But, rather than freefalling, he simply glided down like a feather and landed softly on his feet atop a fallen piece of stone wall.

I gasped in surprise, _The seventh princess is Kairi?_

"The princess...?" Sora looked back at Kairi. He seemed more shocked by that than anything else. "Kairi's a princess?!"

"Yes, and without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete," Riku told us. "It is time she awakened."

"Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!" Sora ignored him, and demanded the freedom of our close friend. He boldly confronted Riku's apparent captor, but that poser only grinned and pointed his Keyblade at Sora.

A dark chuckle sounded from him as he sneered at Sora, "But first, you must give the princess back her heart."

I didn't think that Sora was actually hit by anything, but he suddenly dropped to his knees and clutched the pendant around his neck. A second later, there was a sudden and very brief flash of light where his heart was. He groaned and dropped his head in pain.

"Sora!" Donald and I knelt beside him, worried for his safety.

"What's-" Sora choked out, still holding his hand over his heart.

I placed my hand on Sora's back and looked for any wounds that could be the cause of his pain, but there was nothing to find. That meant that something else was the big deal. _What's wrong with him?_ I thought for a moment. What Riku said about Kairi's heart bothered me- _"give the princess back her heart"_. Did that mean that her heart was not lost to the Heartless?

My eyes dropped to Kairi and then fled back to Sora, "That can't be..."

"W-What is it, Kara?" Donald questioned me.

"Don't you fools see yet?" Riku chuckled more and held out his arms. He hopped down from the stone and started down the small set of stairs in his approach. "The princess's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

"Kairi... Kairi's inside me?" Sora winced again

"But how could you possibly know that?" I curled my fingers together into fists and sprung up to my feet. "I thought the Heartless took her heart!"

"You are just a simple pawn who knows nothing," Riku shook his head slowly. "I know all that there is to know."

"Tell us," Sora lifted his head. "Who are you?"

"It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness," he announced, revealing to us that he was indeed not Riku. I gasped and stood in front of Sora defensively when he started walking toward us again. Donald bravely cried out and ran at _Ansem_ with his staff, but he was effortlessly tossed away behind the barrier with Goofy. "Are you a fool willing to lose for nothing, or do you wish to try your hand against me, too?"

I gritted my teeth. Back then, when we were talking with Leon, he said something about a man named Ansem. But what he didn't explain to us was that he was able to take over other people's bodies like this. He looked just like Riku, because it was Riku's body. It just... It just lacked his heart. That much I could figure out, but where did he come from? How were we supposed to get Riku back?

The Keyblade. I needed the Keyblade to fend him off and protect Sora and Kairi. He was another villain trying to ruin our lives, and he needed to be stopped. Enough with trying to open the door. Kairi's heart was with us this whole time, so we didn't need Kingdom Hearts anymore.

 _Why won't it come to me?_ I panicked when the Keyblade failed to answer my call. There was a spark in my palm, but no Keyblade. I was left empty-handed.

"Get out of my way." I yelped when Ansem wrapped his fingers around my neck. The force of his grip was choking, and he was able to toss me off to the side like it was nothing. My back hit the wall, and I slumped down. I felt the sting of the impact but bit back the urge to cry. Sora was in danger, but I couldn't move right away. Ansem was standing over him with that ugly Keyblade aimed right at his heart. "I shall release you now, Princess, with the Keyblade of Heart. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, and lead me into everlasting darkness!"

"Sora!" I cried out as Ansem swung the Keyblade down on him.

Seemingly waking up from his daze, to my relief, Sora brought out his Kingdom Key in the nick of time and defended himself against Ansem's attack. They clashed and struggled to overpower the other, though Sora was quickly gaining the upper hand.

"Forget it!" my friend roared, pushing Ansem off. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"

"Kara, keep her safe for me."

Sora requested that I keep my eye on her, but he didn't need to tell me to do that. I was already up on my way to her side. To prevent her body from getting injuried, I carried Kairi away to the far fell within the inner circle of the platform. Ansem raised the barrier to stop us from getting out, but I would still be able to protect her if it came down to fighting him myself. Although I was unable to use the Keyblade, magic was still running through my veins.

The two of them faced off against each other as the rest of us watched. It was unbelievable how Sora was able to match Ansem's movements, albeit with a little struggle here and there. But, he was able to repel most of the ruthless assaults and force Ansem back with his own strength. I felt the heat of the battle between light and darkness.

At first, it looked like Sora was going to lose to the evil seeker of darkness, but he managed to pull through and land a devastating blow to Ansem. I breathed a sigh of relief when the dark Keyblade fell to the ground.

"Riku!" Sora called out, but his body vanished in a cloud of darkness.

"Sora, Kara, look!" Donald cried out. He was pointing at the out of wack Keyhole at the end of the hall.

"The... The Keyhole!" Goofy danced about frantically.

"All of that darkness is running out of control!" I ran ahead. Sora started to follow me up the stairs, but he stopped abruptly and pointed his Keyblade at the presumed Keyhole. The usual beam of light that shot into Keyholes, however, did not occur. No reaction took place to seal it up.

"It won't work!" Goofy bit his fingers.

"It's because the Keyhole isn't finished yet." I tensed up and shook my head.

"What can we do?" Sora wondered out loud.

"Maybe we've gotta go wake Kairi up?" Goofy inquired.

"I think you're right..." Sora turned around and glanced over to Kairi. He rested his hand on his chest thoughtfully. "If we can free her heart... But... But how?"

"A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts... I wonder."

"Sora?" I knitted my brows together as he went back down to where the dark Keyblade was lying. Worry wreaked havoc inside my heart. Mixed emotions pounded in my chest. "Tell me you aren't thinking what I think your thinking."

I was an idiot for not stopping him from picking it up. He passed us by as if it was nothing and held the Keyblade in his hands. Sora's ears were deaf to our shouts and pleas. A lump of emotions swelled up in my throat. What was there to say that would stop him from doing it if he wasn't going to listen to us now?

"Sora, hold on!" Goofy called out to him, but Sora ignored him.

"What are you doing?!" Donald wailed. "No, wait!"

Sora gave the Keyblade a few good looks, then he faced us for a moment. He wasn't having second thoughts judging by the sparkle in his eye. Giving us a huge grin, Sora took the black blade and thrust it into his heart. Tears welled up in my eyes as a light shined where his heart was, and they flooded down my flushed cheeks like a river. The Keyblade dislodged itself as his arms fell to his sides.

Six orbs of light emerged from the fading Keyblade, which flew down to where the trapped princesses were. Those lights were their hearts, and they were returned to where they belonged because of what Sora did.

I fell to my knees and sobbed uncontrollably as another light exited Sora's body. Another heart. This one rose into the air and traveled over to Kairi. Just as Ansem indicated, it was her heart that was trapped inside Sora. The color returned to her flesh as her eyes opened. Kairi was awake again. But, I was too caught up in the light that enveloped Sora to bother with the brilliant light shining behind me. Donald and Goofy were running towards Sora's disappearing form.

"Sora... Sora!" Donald was crying out to him, but Sora smiled weakly and fell backwards. At the same time, Kairi arose to her feet and saw Sora fading away with her own eyes.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted at the top of her lungs, and she rushed to him to try and catch his falling form. It was too late. He dissipated with the light as soon as her arms wrapped around him. The light rose into the air and soon faded away completely. "W-What...?"

"Sora!" Donald continued to sob and stamp his feet. "Come back, Sora!"


	59. Escape the Heartless Rush!

_"What's... What's happening to me?" Sora's eyes closed as he sunk into a pit of darkness. "Falling... falling... into darkness."_

 _It was like a blanket of cold ice was wrapping around him. The voices of his friends were long gone now. He could hear them calling out to him before, but now his mind was blanking out. Only two things were left on his mind. Darkness. And the absence of the warm heart that once rested inside his._

* * *

Tiny particles of light dropped down from above, and I held out my hands to try and catch it. Only one landed in the palm of my hand, and it radiated with a little bit of warmth. However, the light had a short lifespan. It broke apart as I tightened my fingers around it. This light was so familiar to me. Opening my palm, I focused on it for a moment and wondered if it was the same kind of light as Sora's.

"Sora, are you really-" I looked up at Kairi as she reached for the sky. Several drops of tears fell to the ground from her chin a she lowered her hand to her heart. "No. He can't be gone. I won't let him go!"

"W... We'll get him back, somehow," I wiped away my own tears. How we were supposed to do that was a complete and utter mystery, but we were going to bring him back to us. Kairi came back to us through his sacrifice. While bringing him back would surely have to be through a different method, I felt the resolve burning in my heart. Through whatever means necessary, if it did mean opening the door to Kingdom Hearts, I was willing to put myself through more trouble to save Sora's heart.

But, suddenly opening up in front of the Keyhole as a Corridor of Darkness. I felt goosebumps forming on my arms as a sinister figure dripping with darkness emerged from it. Someone with bad intentions was coming out from the dark portal.

"So, you have awakened at last, Princess." A man wearing dark attire stepped forward as the corridor closed. His open shirt exposed the Heartless emblem on his toned chest. Amber eyes studied each of us and rested on Kairi for a time. He had long, silver hair reaching his lower back. The guy's voice was oddly familiar. More than that, though. I felt like I recognized him from somewhere.

"The Keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose. But now it's over."

"Purpose?" I wondered quietly. But it hit me. No wonder he was awfully familiar. "You're Ansem!"

He looked a lot different now, but that was because he didn't have Riku's body. This must have been his true form. So, if he was standing right here with us now, then Sora didn't actually defeat him after all. Trouble was still afoot, and it was walking right over to us.

Donald and Goofy drew their weapons and jumped in front of me and Kairi as he stepped closer to us.

"Don't make another move!" Donald ordered him, but Asnsem was not bothered by his bold words.

"Uh, do ya think we can stop him all by ourselves?" Goofy whispered to him.

"I don't know!" Donald shook his head. "But we have to do something."

It wasn't like I was going to let them do all the fighting. I had no desire to let those two buffoons fight someone like Ansem, they'd be beat in an instant. We stood a better chance if we were to fight together. Still, Ansem was so daunting. Looking at him gave me the chills. The dark aura around him was emanating with so much power. I glanced down at the shadow I was casting behind me. _Guardian, please come out!_

"Guardian..." I whispered out loud this time, but she wasn't responding. Tsking, I returned my attention to Ansem, who abruptly stopped. "Hm?"

He was obviously trying to move, but Ansem's body seemingly lost the will to go forward. It was like an invisible force was blocking him. Yet, it was not something invisible that was stopping him. A golden light manifested and blocked Ansem's path to us.

"I-Impossible..." Ansem growled.

"Riku!" I gasped, seeing a transparent Riku appear. But he didn't seem like himself.

"No, I won't let you use me for this!" Riku held out his arms. He spared us no smiles and pointed at the exit. "You've got to run! There are more Heartless coming!"

"They're already here!" I announced to the others as Shadows poured in from the outside. The creatures of darkness were in the process of having us surrounded, and their numbers were quickly increasing by the second.

"Okay..." Kairi gave in finally and nodded. Grabbing her by the hand, I led her down the safest path through the gathering Heartless.

The fourth of us ran away from the growing forces of darkness while Riku held Ansem back. We were reluctant to go, but it was the wise thing to do. There was no going back, either. One glance back and I could see hundreds of beady eyes chasing after us. We had to make it out of here, or else there was no hope for anyone.

Goofy huffed and puffed as he ran for dear life, "What about the Keyhole?!"

"Let's just get out of here!" Donald yelled back at him. "We can't beat all of them **_and_ **Ansem!"

Somehow, we were able to stay ahead of the Shadows, but they were still tailing us. Left and right, more of them were popping up to give chase. Donald and Goofy burst through the doors to the entrance hall, and they promptly shut them in an attempt to delay the arrival of the chaotic runners behind us.

I panted and leaned back against the stone railing that curved down the eastern and western staircases. All of that running without rest really wore me out. It was only a matter of time before they caught up to us, but I was so tired. If only we could rest for a moment.

"Kairi! Kara!" Goofy called out to us from downstairs. I wiped the sweat from my brow and glanced down at him and Donald. Their arms were waving for us to hurry up. "We have to hurry and get out of here!"

Kairi turned to me with a sad look in her eyes. "We can't just leave them behind!"

"I really want to stay, too, but..." I felt the same way that she did, but Donald and Goofy were right to warn us about the dangers of staying in the castle for too long.

Riku and Sora were already gone. There was nothing that we could do right now to bring them back and stop Ansem at the same time, nor did we have the capability of sealing the world's Keyhole. Throwing ourselves into danger would only lead to worse things. There was absolutely no choice but to run away and flee this world while we still could.

"...!"

A loud banging at the doors alerted us. Tons of Heartless were trying to break through already. Taking in a deep breath, I pulled Kairi along after the others. But I saw something coming in from the front gates of the hall. Unexpectedly, a single Heartless got ahead of us.

Goofy saw it and warned us, "There's a Heartless after us!"

"I'll take care of it," Donald rolled up his sleeves and pulled out his staff. However, in spite of him acting so brave to protect us, the lone Shadow fearlessly walked towards us. It sure was a stubborn one. "Confounded Heartless! Get lost, would ya?"

Suddenly, the panic bubbling in the pit of my stomach settled down as Donald clobbered the Heartless in the head. I narrowed my eyes and waited for it to fight back, but it did nothing of the sort. _Is it defective?_ I wondered. The beating made it dizzy, but the Heartless shook it off and tilted its head to the side like a dog. It looked right at Kairi as if she was its owner.

Kairi gasped softly and took a step closer to the Shadow, "Sora? Is that you?"

"Careful." I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. "Heartless are unpredictable. It might be trying to trick you."

"Uh-oh!"

The doors upstairs broke down and the Heartless swarmed around us. We were caught in a real bind, but there was no way out this time. Our only option left was to fight our way out of the castle, and so we got to work. The king's trusty magician and knight handled the two dozen on one side, while I remained close to Kairi to protect her from harm. Well, and apparently I was taking care of the dumb Shadow that wouldn't leave her side.

"Burn!" I yelled, letting my fire magic lose.

 _Crap!_ I rolled out of the way of a pouncing Heartless. My magic wasn't doing enough damage to them, or they were just getting stronger. _Darn it, they're going after Kairi._ The bunch that I was distracted with formed a gap in between me, Kairi, and the defective Shadow. I couldn't get to her fast enough when they all lunged at her.

"Sora!" she turned and hugged the Shadow by her leg as the incoming ambush threatened her.

"No!" I was practically screaming like a banshee when Kairi got trapped beneath the Shadows.

"Kairi!"

We shouted out to her, but her muffled cries became silent. I throttled the rest of the Shadows with lightning magic as a radiant light blew away the ones on top of Kairi. My eyes widened. Once again, tears were on the verge of falling down my cheeks. The light dimmed down to reveal to us that Kairi was doing just fine, but it also showed me that the Shadow she was protecting was... It was no ordinary Heartless.

"Kairi, thank you." Sora's arms were holding her close in a tight embrace. So, Kairi was right about that Shadow being him. He was back to his normal self, and it was all because of the light. That had to be the case.

"Sora..." she said his name quietly, and her eyes beamed up at him as he held her close.

"Sora!" Donald, Goofy, and I sobbed together and cheered for his return.

Our reunion was cut short, however, by the arrival of another wave of Heartless. But, now that we were almost all together and had the Keyblade, dealing with more of them didn't seem like such a big deal. I felt rejuvenated now that Sora was back. It'd be great if we had Riku as well, but that'd hopefully be for another time.

We did gain another ally at that moment. He came in roaring and charged the Heartless two by two. Beast mowed down an entire row of them and opened a way to the castle gates. "Go! Now!"

"Beast, come with us!" Sora told him, but Beast punched out another Heartless and shook his head.

"I told you before, boy," Beast said angrily as he was hunkered down, ready to fight. "I'm not leaving without Belle. Now, go! The Heartless are coming!"

I placed my hand on Sora's shoulder with a small smile on my face, "His heart's made up."

"O-Okay," Sora nodded. "Let's get out of here."

The gummi ship was loaded up with the five of us together. During our departure, I could see the dark clouds swirling around the castle. A storm was coming to ravage Hollow Bastion. _I hope they'll all be okay without us_ , I silently prayed for Beast and the princesses. Well, not just them. I was praying for Riku to be alright, wherever he was now. We'd come back to help them as soon as we could. In the meantime, though, it was back to Traverse Town.


	60. Our Hearts

"Tell me what happened."

In Cid's warm house, we met with Leon and the rest of the group over a bowl of snacks and some juice. It was a rough ride getting back, but we made it without so much as a dent in the ship. Nothing felt better than being back in Traverse Town. Our supplies were replenished, too, at Cid's generous expense. He even let us rest for the night at his place, again.

Sora was telling Leon all about our experience at Hollow Bastion. Most of it caught the swordsman by surprise, but he kept his bewilderment hidden behind a cleverly set up poker face. At times, Donald and Goofy would jump in with their own takes on the matter of the ruined world.

Leon leaned back against the wall and nodded his head. He took in all that he could regarding the long and detailed story. I did what I could to tell him about Riku and the situation regarding Ansem. About the princesses and the dark Keyblade Sora used to release Kairi's heart. Anything that would give him an idea of how things had gone.

At the end of the tale, Leon opened his eyes and folded his arms. A deep frown was present on his face when a thought came to his mind. And when he opened his mouth to speak, I sat up in my chair with my ears open.

"So the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole..." Leon said in a low tone. "That's not good."

 _Right..._ I slumped my shoulders slightly. Just when I thought he was going to grace us with a cool piece of dialogue.

"No wonder there are more and more Heartless appearing everywhere," Aerith said. "The only way to stop them is-"

"Seal the Keyhole, right?" Sora cut in and held up his Keyblade for all to see.

"Maybe. But know one knows what will happen once it's sealed." Leon lifted his chin and carefully studied Sora's Keyblade.

Sora grumbled and ruffled his spiky hair with his hands out of frustration. "Well, we can't just stay here. We have to do something! I've got a friend back there."

"That's right..." Leon nodded slowly. "You two have one more friend to worry about. Just as Kara said, Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts- just like that Keyhole you saw. Of course, without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should have been freed."

"Don't worry, Sora. If anyone can save your friend, you two can."

Sora and I looked to each other, he was sighing in relief. Leon gave a good argument. We thought nothing much of returning the hearts of the captive princesses, apart from Kairi. When things were looking bleak, the dark Keyblade- the Keyblade of Heart- was used to turn the tables in some way. Their hearts were surely returned. On the topic of the princesses, however, Leon explained to us that there was no sign of them returning to their own worlds. That meant that they were still in Hollow Bastion. But, why?

I pressed my back against the wood of the chair, _So, if we could get their hearts back, then it's definitely possible to save Riku. But, both his heart and body are gone... I don't suppose opening the door to Kingdom Hearts is still an option. Then again, we still have one more guy to worry about. Ansem would only step in the way and use it for his own agenda._ There was so much to worry about. Boy, did I feel overloaded with all of this information. I couldn't let it bring me down, though. We all had to be heroes in this effort to save the worlds and our friends from the darkness.

Speaking with Aerith, she confessed to believing that the Keyhole would be strengthening the darkness around the worlds we have visited altogether. But then she brought up a peculiar theory. Whether it was true or not, it seemed as though someone was holding back the darkness. I hoped deep down that it was Riku, or some great hero we would soon meet. Maybe it was an incredible warrior of light who had a grudge against Ansem.

Whatever the case, we had to go back to Hollow Bastion sooner or later and close that Keyhole before anything catastrophic happened. Evidence of something ominous was already beginning to show throughout town, according to Yuffie.

"Not sure why, but the Heartless are getting stronger around here," she told us while peeking outside the window. "There's new types of Heartless popping up all over the place! I've never seen anything like them before."

Sora and I looked outside to see the Third District. An unexpected thunderstorm was rolling through, drenching the whole town with loads of rain. Through the storm, we could see many Heartless roaming around. They did nothing to attack people in their homes, but anyone on the streets in the Second and Third Districts would easily count as prey. Defenders and Darkballs. The same kind of Heartless we ran into at Hollow Bastion.

"Well, if anything happens to us, I know we can count on you guys," Yuffie shrugged her shoulders and skipped over to the table to grab some chips. She relaxed in the chair and let out a sigh. "I wonder if that Ansem guy is waiting in Hollow Bastion. Wipe them all out, will ya?"

"That's the plan!" Sora grinned and flexed his biceps. But his aloof nature earned a smack to the back of the head from Donald and his staff. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Don't go getting all cocky on us!" Donald grumbled. "Let's not forget who became a Heartless."

"Er..." Sora rubbed his head and looked away.

Kairi was listening in on the bickering duo. She looked Sora over once, then twice, until she was satisfied with finding nothing wrong with him. Still, even though she checked on him frequently throughout the day, she wore a worried expression.

"Is something wrong, Kairi?" I asked her, but she shook her head.

"It's just that..." her words trailed off for a moment, and she paused. Suddenly turning to Sora with a fiery look in her eyes, Kairi pouted and rested her hands on her hips. "Sora, are you really feeling okay now? If you're not, then say so."

"O-O-Okay!" Sora stuttered.

"Heh, I knew it was you even in your Heartless form," she took a lighter tone with him and softened up. "Just be careful out there. Both you and Kara."

"Don't worry, we'll be just fine," I smiled at Kairi. She giggled and hugged the both of us.

It was about time for us to head out and prepare some more before we returned to Hollow Bastion. But, when we walked passed Leon, I heard him muttering something to himself. I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but it sounded pretty important to him.

"Has the darkness taken _them_ , too?" he had whispered. Leon sighed and shook his head. "Maybe it's hopeless for ordinary people to oppose the darkness."

Unsure of what to make of it, I followed Sora, Donald, and Goofy outside and went to the First District. But the challenge of the stronger Heartless turned out to be a great source of training, until we got bored with it. I did find it to be a little bland since I was stuck using only magic.

Cid's gummi shop was the first place we went to when we got to the civilized district. He was at it with his usual business while one of his other employees handled the Accessory Shop. Well, since he wasn't too busy, we didn't bother dancing around the situation.

"Cid, we need to go back to Hollow Bastion," Sora bluntly told Cid about what we wanted to do. The middle-aged man choked on his tea in response.

"I don't think I can let you kiddos do that," he cleared his throat and wiped down his desk with a dirty rag. "The Heartless there are multiplying by the minute. They'd eat your ship right up!"

"Ugh, then what can we do?" I groaned.

"Simple. Ya go around 'em instead of through," Cid tossed his rag to the ground and finished sipping his hot drink. He looked awfully content with the idea. "Install a new navigation gummi and take a new route."

"A new gummi?" Sora and I looked at each other, but we had no idea where to get one. The last ones we did find were from sealing the Keyholes of the other worlds. "Where are we supposed to get it?"

"The secret waterway," the engineer explained. That place where Leon liked to train by himself. So that was where this new gummi was supposed to be. "When I came here nine years ago, I stored it there in case I ever needed it."

Turning his back to us, Cid chuckled and shook his head. He ran a hand through his blonde hair with an exasperated sigh. "Never thought some kids would be the ones to use it!"

"I don't know what that's suppose to mean, but see you later!" Sora shrugged his shoulders, and we ran off for the waterway under Merlin's home.

"Sora! Kara!" Kairi ran up to us, and she was out of breath. She huffed and regained her composure when she reached us. "I want to go with you guys."

"No!" Sora blurted.

"We're just going to the waterway," I sighed. "It's probably safer down there since Merlin will be nearby."

"Uh..."

Sora was defeated and gave in to letting Kairi come alone. We took the quickest way there and avoided as much fighting possible so that she wasn't put in any danger. When we got there, we took some time to warm up by a magical fire set up by Merlin. He somehow knew we were coming and wanted to ready the place for us.

The three of us- Sora, Kairi, and I- walked over to where the shallow water was while Donald and Goofy were busy warming up. The uniquely colored wall at the end of the waterway interested us. Well, Kairi wanted to check it out while we were down there.

"What a mysterious mural..." she murmured, holding her hands behind her back."It's almost hypnotizing. There's something about this must place... Doesn't it remind you of home?"

"Now that you say that, I agree," Sora nodded his head.

"Yeah," I agreed, too. Then a thought came to my mind. I stepped down into the water and walked down to the strange mural. It was safe to do so since there was still the rocky path submerged under the water. "Huh?"

"What is it, Kara?" Sora asked, having followed me.

There was a strange light glowing where the design of the sun was. A sparkling orb floated down from it, causing the design to change into a crescent moon and stars. I gasped and let the tiny orb fall into my hands, and it was also surprising to Sora. The light dispersed. In my hands was a uniquely shaped gummi block. _Oh, so this must be the navigation gummi Cid was talking about._

Tucking the gummi block away in my pocket, I nudged Sora in the shoulder for him to follow me back to where Kairi was waiting. We'd be able to return to Hollow Bastion now that we had this gummi block. We just had to meet with everyone else.

"Let's go back and join the others," Sora said, stepping back onto dry land. "It's still pretty early, so we should rest up."

"Okay," Kairi nodded. The other two were the first to head up to the platform that'd take us up to Merlin's house. We were about to go, too, but Kairi wanted to stay behind for a moment longer. She pulled me and Sora back with her. "A light at the end of the tunnel..."

"Oh, your grandma's story, right?" Sora inquired.

Kairi gasped, surprised that he knew of it. Wait. I didn't know about it, either. What was this story about? She giggled softly and nodded, "That's right. We were together."

"You know what's funny?" Sora grinned, folding his arms and admiring the view of the mural. "I looked everywhere for you, but you were with me all along. Dinally, we're back together, Kairi. Now, it's time to get Riku back."

"You think it'll ever be the same again between us?" Kairi asked. "Riku's lost his..."

"His heart may be gone, but we can't lose hope." I turned away from the two and dropped my eyes to the ground. An image of Riku being possessed by Ansem snuck into my memory. Not wanting them to see me cry, I quickly rubbed my glossy eyes and sighed.

"She's right!" Sora chimed in. "When I turned into a Heartless, you saved me, remember?"

"I was lost in the darkness. I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things- my friends, who I was. The darkness almost swallowed me. But, then I heard a voice- your voice, Kairi. You brought me back."

"I didn't want to just forget about you, Sora," Kairi said. "I just couldn't."

Sora's head popped up, and he pounded his fist into his palm.

"That's it!" he exclaimed all of a sudden. "Our hearts are connected. And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me. No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within. I guess it's more than just a fairy tale."

"Sora." I smiled at him. _No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within..._

"Well, let's go," Kairi said. "We're going to save Riku together!"

"Eh?" I blinked.

"You can't go!" Sora disapproved and shook his head from side to side.

"Why not?" Kairi asked, pouting like a child.

"Because it's way too dangerous!" he argued.

"Come on, Sora," she whined, but a smile was on her face. "We made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone."

"Kairi, even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore Right?" Sora said. I couldn't help but feel inspired by his surprisingly wise choice of words.

"I can't help?" she frowned.

Sora smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "You'd kind of be in my way."

"Hmmm... Okay. You win." Kairi smiled again, accepting his advice. Taking his hand in hers, Kairi pulled something out of her pocket and left it in the palm of his hand. My eyes lightened up. It was that charm she was making back on the islands. "Take this with you. It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me."

"Don't worry," Sora curled his fingers over the cute charm. "I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you," Kairi said in a hushed voice. She then turned to me and gave me a tight squeeze of a hug. "Kara, please keep an eye on him. And you bring Riku back, too. Then you can..."

The last bit of what she had to say to me was whispered in my ear. My eyes widening in surprise, I blushed and jumped back with my arms folded. _What makes her think that I... But, it was a good idea._

"Gee, uh... We better get going, Sora," I cleared my throat.

* * *

 _"Sora... Kairi... Kara..." Riku panted. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he walked alone on a single path in the darkness. It happened, he thought. He was finally swallowed by the darkness. As far as his eyes could see, that was all there was. Darkness. "I'm so sorry..."_

 _Riku looked around again. He felt so disoriented. For some time now, he had been walking in the same direction, but it didn't seem like he was getting anywhere. "Is this the afterworld?"_

 _His steps were becoming heavy. When he tried to take another step, Riku stumbled and nearly fell to the ground. A strange sensation made his body tingle. He felt so weak, he could barely stand. If only there was something he could do. At least, was there something he could do to stop the strange glow around his body?_

 _"No. I'm not ready. Not yet..." he shook the dizziness out of his head. "Not until I see them one last time."_

 _"Riku, can you hear me? I'll be there soon."_

 _From somewhere in the darkness, there was a voice. It was calling out to him. Riku was bewildered and turned all over to find the person speaking to him. "Who is that?!" he demanded to know. He could have sworn that he heard a name, but it was all muffled and messy._

 _"I have the other Keyblade- the one that belongs to this realm," said the mysterious person, but Riku was confused. The other Keyblade? "I've been trying to get through to you, but the darkness in your heart kept me away."_

 _"Who are you? What's happened to me?" Riku asked, far from being satisfied by the answer he had received._

 _"Your heart won the battle against darkness, but it was too late for your body. That's why you're here- in this place of darkness where hearts are gathered." The boy's fingers were shaking. He took it well, but he didn't want to accept it. At least his heart was okay; he was sure that it'd be okay, at least. If what this person was saying turned out to be truth._

 _"So what do I do?" Riku straightened his composure. He was a little more willing to listen to this unknown figure._

 _"The Door of Darkness will open soon, but it's a door we can't enter," revealed his unseen ally. "It has to be closed from both sides. To do this, you need two keys and two hearts."_

 _"Maybe you're here for the same reason I am. Maybe it was fate."_

 _"Fate, huh?" Riku observed the path ahead of him. He scoffed a little at the fate part. The last thing he wanted to talk about was fate. "You seem to know everything, don't you? Then tell me: Are my friends okay? Sora and Kairi. And... And Kara."_

 _There was an innocent chuckle, it bounced around in his head. "Don't you feel the echoes of their hearts? You already know the answer. Look inside your own heart."_

 _Riku closed his eyes and pictured the three of them running to him. Sora was smiling brightly as he usually did. It was like he was trying to win yet another race. Kairi. She was a giggling mess who always watched Sora. He felt a little jealous, but he smiled thinking about the two of them._ _Briefly, he opened his eyes. There was one more heart beating near his. He could feel the rhythm of it, so he closed his eyes again and let it speak to him._

 _Emerging from the darkness far behind Sora and Kairi was a familiar girl. Her silver hair hung loose around her shoulders, and her golden eyes were mesmerizing. She smiled at him, and Riku smiled back. But, he was confused when she stopped walking to him. There was a lot of distance in between them. Kara extended her left hand, and she smiled brightly. Was he supposed to take it?_

 _Before Riku could take her hand, she disappeared. It wasn't a bad thing, though. He could still feel that their hearts were connected._

 _"Okay," he nodded, a soft smile plastered on his face._


	61. The End is Near

After we found the gummi block said to have the ability to take us around the main path to Hollow Bastion, Cid took it from us and went off to fix up the gummi ship. He worked really fast with it and even threw in a little bonus for all the hard work that we've been doing for him and the others. With the increase in danger, there was an increase in the ship's defense system. More armor, speed, and agility. And, my favorite part, more cannons!

"I gotta say, I wish you kids didn't have to face all this danger," Cid said, tossing his used toothpick. It didn't really seem like his style, but he wished us well in what might have been the tail end of this insane journey.

Leon, Kairi, and the rest of the gang in Traverse Town wished us a safe journey to Hollow Bastion, but we got some strange readings when we departed from the world. Chip and Dale popped up on the monitor. First, it was to point out a new warp hole nearby. Something else was going on, though.

"Hmm..." Dale tapped his finger on his red nose. "Some weird power is emanating from the other worlds."

"It might be worth visiting some places again, you guys," Chip said, sending us the information they were getting on their side.

"Um," Sora folded his arms. "What do we do now?"

"If it's just for a quick look, then let's check out these worlds," Donald suggested.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is going to turn out to be more than we bargained for?" I sighed in defeat. "Ah, well. We'll get there when we get there."

* * *

We arrived at Hollow Bastion after a rough ride through the ocean of stars. The new route was a difficult one, but we got to the chaotic world a lot faster than we would have if we went the usual way. Sora, getting his chance to pilot the gummi ship himself, landed the ship so that we could enter the rising falls. Beast was already there, but we were surprised to see him alone.

"Where's Belle?" Sora asked Beast.

"Still in the castle," he replied with a low growl.

I looked up at the castle and gulped. The darkness rising around it gave me a bad feeling. If it was indeed the Keyhole radiating with that powerful darkness, then we had very little time. It might have been a bad idea checking out those other worlds.

We actually ended up fighting a couple of real powerful Heartless in all of the other worlds, yet we cleaned up in record time. But, the Coliseum was another story...

"Is she being held against her will?" Goofy wondered, but Beast said no.

"I think she stayed for a reason," Beast claimed. "The other princesses are inside as well."

"I wonder why they'd stay in there," Donald tapped his foot. "I bet that castle is crawling with even more Heartless."

"Let's go and check on them," I stepped forward.

The five of us went on together to go to the castle. Storm winds were ravaging the whole world. A light mist from the peak of the rising falls pelted my skin as I jumped from platform to platform. Tons of Shadows threatened to delay our getting to the castle, but we breezed through them and hurried along.

We soon made it to the library, where we bumped into a young woman wearing a beautiful yellow dress. She had a particular light in her heart, I could sense it. Beast looked very taken by her sudden appearance.

"Belle!" he exclaimed and ran up to her. The two shared a loving embrace, until we met them on the upper floor of the library.

"You've come to seal the Keyhole, right?" Belle asked us. We all nodded, but she didn't shake the look of concern. "Please, do be careful. The darkness is raging deep inside. We've been holding it back, but we can't hold out much longer."

"We'll take care of it," Sora reassured the princess, who was exceedingly grateful for our determination. "Um, why don't you stay with Belle, Beast?"

"Hm..." he glared, but the fire in Beast's eyes seemed to disappear when Belle settled her hand on his fuzzy arm. "I... I suppose it would be a good idea to... Well, to stay and protect you, Belle. But, what about you?"

"Us?" Donald smirked. "We're heroes! We can handle a little bit of darkness!"

"But, didn't Belle just say that the darkness was-"

Donald grumbled and whacked Goofy over the head with his staff, shutting him up for the umpteenth time. I shrugged my shoulders at their shenanigans and walked ahead of them to the castle's chapel. Sora had to jog to catch up because he was distracted by the duo of clowns, who were making their way after us.

The halls darkened, letting us know that we were getting close to our destination. A sharp gust of wind was blowing through the hallway, yet it did not come from the outside. I recognized the feel of it and visualized black wisps of darkness circulating within the cold air. It smelled of darkness, an odor I was becoming way too accustomed to.

Princess Jasmine and Alice were waiting in the chapel alongside the other princesses, save for Belle who was back at the library with Beast. All of the princesses of heart were excited to see us there with them, and they greeted us. However, the happy moment only lasted for so long. The princesses were looking exhausted, most likely from fending off the darkness.

"Sora, please hurry," Jasmine pleaded with my friend. "Darkness is pouring from the Keyhole."

"This is all we can do just to hold back the darkness," little Alice said.

Snow White, a fair princess, sighed and shook her head, "I don't know how long we can manage even that."

"Alright, we're on our way!" Sora nodded to them.

But, before we left to manage the situation with the Keyhole, we approached the other two princesses to see how they were doing- Cinderella and Aurora. They didn't look at all surprised to see us. "We've been waiting for you, Keyblade master."

The princesses curtsied respectfully. It was an old-fashioned way of greeting us, but we rolled with it. They explained the situation in a little more detail, which brought a thought to my mind concerning the overflowing darkness. In the midst of the somewhat pleasant calm in the chapel, I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling rising in the pit of my stomach. _I'm surprised we didn't run into him yet._

"Where's Ansem?" I asked them, but they looked at each other all worrisome-like.

"Gone," Cinderella said shortly.

"When the Keyhole appeared, darkness poured out of it," Aurora began, visibly shivering as she remembered. "It swallowed Ansem, and he disappeared."

"Though Ansem is gone, the flood of darkness has not stopped. We're working together to hold it back." Cinderella let out a sigh and closed her eyes. As tired as she seemed to be, the older princess continued to do what she intended to do with aiding the others. What strength her heart had. No wonder they were princesses of heart.

"I cannot forget the look on that man's face," Aurora spoke up again about Ansem. "As the darkness engulfed him, he was smiling."

Each of them expressed their concerns, which were mutual with ours. Although they had doubts that Ansem would return, I felt otherwise. This immense darkness shaking the entire castle, it didn't match up to what I felt around Ansem. It wasn't enough to consume him. That Heartless of a man was out there somewhere, but we were going to have to find him in order to put a stop to his dark motives.

Without a shred of hesitation, I braved the storm of darkness tearing through the castle and made my way to the grand hall. The atmosphere was heavy and bore down on my shoulders with all its might, but I refused to give into it. I felt strong enough to take it this time.

The place where Sora and Riku-Ansem fought was all tore up. I glanced around and saw the ruptured pipes. Scorching hot steam fumed from the jagged openings. It was a real mess, a giant scar left from a tense battle. We cleared the place out and removed the immediate Heartless threats, though I could still feel the presence of a powerful darkness. Rather than it being out where we were, this darkness came from inside that giant emblem in front of us. Perhaps it wasn't the actual Keyhole itself, but a door of some sort leading to it.

I climbed the steps and stood at the top of the rubble to be closer to it. _Such darkness. So much anger and rage. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. The Keyhole is just beyond this point, but I think we're going straight into the dark depths of this world._

"Wait, I think you should wait out here, Kara." Sora ran up to me as I reached out to touch the glowing entryway. His hand took hold of my wrist, and he pulled me back down the stairs. I gave him a soft glare, my brows furrowed.

"Why should I?" I asked him. "The Keyhole is just inside there. If we don't go now, then this world is going to get swallowed up for good."

"W-Well..." he stuttered. Sora leaned over to Donald and Goofy. "Say something, you guys!"

He spoke in a whisper to them, adding onto the suspicious feeling I was getting. The other two were also stuttering over their words, unable to find what they wanted to say. I folded my arms and deepened my glare at the boys. "If something's wrong, just tell me. It's not like I'm going to get angry or anything."

"Ya kinda look mad right now," Goofy gulped.

"Um... Uh..." Donald searched everywhere for the words. After a minute, he finally found something. "Do you... think you'll be alright going in there?"

"Weird question," I said bluntly with a raised brow. "Yeah, I do. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that you don't seem very well," Sora said, nervously rubbing the nape of his neck. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. "And you've been using an awful lot of magic constantly. Um, I think you've been at it for a while now. I know you're really great and all with it, but you're starting to look a little worn out."

I closed my eyes and sighed. My body did feel a bit shaky. Not as much as before since we went back to Traverse Town to rest, but I've been using up a lot of energy to cast spells. There was a variety of things I could do with magic now, but my supply of energy was going to need more work if I was getting this tired after consecutive spells. How many ethers did I have left? Not enough to get me through what's beyond that portal, maybe. It was hard to say. But, resorting to my hands and fists was not an option.

Last night, when we were staying at Cid's place, I went off on my own to the secret waterway. It was the only place I could go to for alone time. The others didn't know about it since they were sleeping, and I didn't want to tell them about it now. But I was trying to summon the Keyblade, and also Guardian. Neither came to me...

If they knew that I couldn't use the Keyblade anymore, then I'd be forced to sit out the rest of this adventure. I still wanted to help, and I needed to go with them to get Riku back. Waiting around and doing nothing just wasn't in me. My heart detested the very idea. But, I didn't want to be a liar, either. They'd find out sooner or later, and the result would surely be the same.

I sighed and looked over Sora's shoulder at the wall. "It's better if... if we just keep going. Don't mind me, you guys."

"Kara..." Sora pouted.

"Seriously, I'll be fine!" I folded my arms and turned my back on them. "If we want to save this world, then let's go. The princesses are running out of time."

"Oh! I almost forgot," he gasped.

Relief fell over me when he remembered the lack of time we had. Sora was a great hero and all, but he was such a simpleton. Donald may not have been so easily swayed, but he went along with Sora in caring more for the higher priority. One by one, we trespassed into the darkest parts of Hollow Bastion.

When we stepped through the portal, we found ourselves in a multi-colored dimension lathered with darkness. If it could even be counted as a wall, I saw something at the far end of the dimension. The world's Keyhole, outlined by blueish flames. Getting to it was not going to be very easy, however. A colossal figure emerged from the darkness, causing quakes with each step it took.

"I-It's a monster of a monster!" Jiminy whimpered and ducked deeper into Sora's pocket. I forgot that he was with us all this time.

The monster was a Heartless, but it was the largest one we ever did see. It was a Behemoth, a horned Heartless here to haunt the Keyhole. A small ball of fire sparked in the palm of my hand. Sora and the others drew their trusty weapons, and we prepared ourselves to face off against the giant. There was nowhere to run from this massive enemy, not that we wanted to now that we were so close to the Keyhole. Bracing ourselves for the worst, we challenged the Heartless to a battle.

* * *

In its massive form, the Behemoth was actually slow moving. We targeted its horn and attacked simultaneously, though it repelled us several times with explosive attacks. Putting our all into it, we did enough damage to the giant Heartless and broke its horn. It roared in pain and vanished from the area. Was it gone for good? Possibly, but now was not the time to worry about that.

I inhaled a deep breath and approached a fiery emblem at the end of the dark depths. The Heartless emblem was emblazoned inside, and it hung over the Keyhole. So much darkness radiated from it. Most likely, the Heartless were nearly through breaking into the world's core- its heart. And this may have been the result of their actions. But with Sora's Keyblade, we'd be able to fix all of that and return this world to its old self. I was sure of it.

"Oh, boy!" Goofy cheerfully jumped up and pointed at our goal. "Let's go and seal that big Keyhole!"

 _"Sora. You did it."_

"Huh? I thought I heard Leon for a second there," Sora wiggled his pinkie finger into his ear and picked out some ear wax. I stuck my tongue out in disgust and shoved him forward.

"That's gross!" I cringed. "You heard Leon because it is Leon. Come on."

Returning to the grand hall, we were surprised to see Leon's group hanging around outside the Keyhole. It was just him, Aerith, and Yuffie.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora was the first to question them.

"We came in Cid's ship!" Yuffie said, swinging her legs over the rails of the stone banister she was sitting on.

"This is our childhood home," Aerith pointed out as she looked around the ruins of the castle. She seemed sad seeing it in the state it was in. "We wanted to see it again after all these years."

"It's in worse shape than I feared," Leon folded his arms. "It used to be so peaceful..."

"Don't worry. If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored," Aerith smiled sweetly. She turned to me and Sora, her emerald eyes sparkling a little. "That includes your island."

Sora and I were tingling with joy. "Really?!"

They all nodded, confirming our deepest hopes. I was eager to see home again and a little anxious to get this whole business with Ansem over with. Riku, Sora, Kairi, and I. We were so close to being able to going back to the islands again. The time was drawing closer and closer by the minute.

"But," Yuffie dropped her head, "it also means goodbye."

"Once the worlds are restored, they'll all be separated again," Aerith said.

"Everyone will go back to where they came from," the ninja said sadly.

"Then we'll visit you guys with the gummi ship!" Sora declared, but I think he was missing the point. I didn't fully understand it either, but the way she said _goodbye_ seemed to have a... longer term set for it.

"It's not that simple," Leon finally said.

They went on to talk about how we had no knowledge of other worlds before being thrown off our home world. The worlds were isolated before, because there were boundaries set to keep them divided, so they explained. When those walls were destroyed by the Heartless, everything became connected. It'd all change back to the way they were before once we did our duty. The walls would rise again to separate the worlds.

I frowned at the news. _So the gummi ship wouldn't work in those conditions._

"So, you're saying we'll never...?" Sora dropped his shoulders and looked up at Leon with tearful eyes.

"We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other," the swordsman consoled us.

"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again," Aerith supported his words, bringing a sense of comfort to our minds.

"Besides, I couldn't forget you dorks even if I wanted to," Yuffie laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Sora waved his fist at her playfully. It wasn't a serious jab at our feelings, but it really told us what Yuffie was really like. A real goofball, just like the boys.

"Hey, you two!" Donald shouted down to Sora and I from the portal's entrance. The moment we turned around, we saw the darkness running out of control. I gasped and ran ahead of him to investigate the situation.

"Hurry! Come and close the Keyhole!" Goofy shouted over his shoulder before jumping back into the dark depths with me. Leon wished us luck before we went inside.

The Keyhole was burning bright, for it was reacting to the Keyblade Sora had in his hand. I watched on as he sealed the Keyhole. It faded away afterward, and so did the Heartless emblem around it. Although I could still feel the presence of darkness around us, it was gradually weakening. To confirm this, we hurried over to the princesses to see how things were.

"Thank you," Cinderella expressed her heartfelt gratitude for sealing the Keyhole. "I think the darkness has begun to weaken."

"Yes, but I can feel a powerful darkness growing somewhere far away," Alice stated.

The princess mulled over their thoughts together some more. "It's the heart of the darkness. It must be where Ansem went."

"Then we'll take the gummi ship and deal with both Ansem and the Heartless," Sora declared, promising the princesses of heart that the growing evil lying hidden elsewhere would be dealt with promptly. I agreed fully. If left unchecked, Ansem could make things worse. We couldn't let that happen.

"Worthy answer, Keyblade master," Cinderella smiled at Sora. "We offer this power to aid you all in your final battle."

The princesses extended their hands to us, and we were engulfed by a powerful light. I felt so empowered by the gift they blessed us with. It might have been just what we needed to keep up with Ansem. Grateful for their kindness, I thanked them all in behalf of myself and the others.

"Once the darkness is gone, all should return to its original state," Aurora said.

"Does that mean that Kairi will be back on the island?" Sora asked them, and all nodded.

"Most certainly. And you two should be, as well," Cinderella pointed out.

Shaking my head, I refused to accept that. "I can't go home until I find Riku. And, the king needs to be found, too."

"Yeah, and we won't give up, either!" Donald added.

"They're our friends, and they need us," Sora nodded, supporting the vow.

"Gwarsh, we're all in it together!" Goofy raised his shield. "Boy, the king'll be so happy to hear about this."

"Then prepare yourselves well, young heroes."

 _I can't believe it, we're nearly through with this journey_. I was locked in my thoughts for most of the ride back to Traverse Town. We paid a visit to the other worlds once again to settle unfinished business. Then, we prepared to the best of our ability and stocked up on as many items we could afford. It was an expensive preparation, but it was so worth it. Before we were to go to our final destination, we made a trip back to Traverse Town to meet with the moogles that set up their new shop. Apparently there was something exciting going on over there.


	62. The Ultimate Weapon

Not very often did we talk with the moogles in town, but we did often do business with them. It started recently, actually, when they shared their knowledge about synthesis with us. So far, the items and equipment they synthesized for us helped us through a lot of tight situations.

We saved munny by going out to find important materials ourselves. I think we made a few dozen new items with the synthesis shop... which meant that we were frequent visitors. Okay, so we stopped by Traverse Town a whole lot since we found out about their place on the second floor of Cid's shop. A while back, he mentioned something about his products going missing, so we had to investigate. That was when we found them upstairs.

Cid didn't know about it, but we never did tell him for the sake of saving their business. I felt a little guilty keeping it a secret from him, but the moogle brothers promised to help us out a whole lot with the new things they made.

 _"You've helped us out so much since we arrived in Traverse Town,"_ one of them had claimed. It was a cliche thing to say for a first impression, but they really got to us when they brought up their past.

 _"We lived well back home, helping people in modern society. Our repertoire was superb! But, it all changed when the Heartless took our world from us. We managed to escape and start anew here in town. It was a struggle, but you kids really gave it your all with bringing the business up again."_

Here we were again in their shop to see what was going on with their next set of upcoming inventions. We gave them all of the materials collected from our adventures, then went over to the moogle putting up a new poster.

"Ultima Weapon?" I read off the poster.

"What's that about?" Sora wondered exactly what I was.

"Thanks to all your hard work with collecting synthesis materials from all over the world, we found out a new formula to create the ultimate weapons!" the moogle announced proudly. Our jaws dropped at the exciting news. "We have three new recipes to try out."

"What kind of weapons?!" Donald asked. "Can I get a new staff?"

"Yes!"

"A new shield?"

"Yes!"

"A new Keyblade?"

"Yes!"

"You're serious?" I gasped. "A Keyblade is one of a kind, though. That can't be possible."

"It sure is!" The moogles led us over to their forge and had us toss in the crystals and other materials necessary for one of their weapon recipes. We sat back and watched them do what they did best. "Sit and watch."

Mog, the head moogle, used his tools to pull out a long rod from the glowing forge. They cooled it down and decorated it ornately, sparking great interest in Donald. The finished product was a fine looking staff brimming with magic. Mog hopped over to Donald and handed the supposedly supreme staff over to him. "I call it... _Save the Queen_."

"This here is _Save the King_ ," Mog explained, passing on another creation to Goofy. He described it as a shield superior to all others.

My heart pounded in my chest as the next grouping of materials was thrown in. Sora was anxiously awaiting the results as Mog worked his scientific magic on the third and final weapon. It took a lot longer than the others to make, but it was worth the wait. Mog removed a long blade from the fire and did his best to shape it into a fine piece. Ornate designs were added to it, giving it that Keyblade sort of look.

The metalwork was something else. I was speechless by the shine of the final draft of Mog's work. I admired the keychain token he added to the forged Keyblade.

"Feast your eyes on the ultimate Keyblade- the Ultima Weapon!" Mog announced. He struggled to hold the blade over his head for us to see. "This just might be my finest invention. Now, then. Who will be using it?"

"I will!" Sora jumped up, but Donald forced him to sit back down.

"No! That's not the key that the king said we needed," Donald said, folding his arms.

"Then what do we do with it?" Goofy asked.

Mog went back to his usual work, leaving the Ultima Weapon on the table for us to figure out what we wanted to do. Sora was adamant about wanting to use it against the Heartless, but Donald argued back and told him to use the one he had already. They bickered back and forth, and Goofy occasionally tried to stop them from arguing anymore. _I swear, I'm going to just take it for myself if they don't stop._

 _Wait... Why don't I just take it?_ I wondered to myself. It'd be the logical thing to do, seeing that I can't summon my original Keyblade. Resting my hands on the table, I gazed down at the "supreme" Keyblade with curious eyes. The princesses used their power to enhance ours, mostly our magic. I doubted that relying on magic alone would take care of the Heartless problem. And, if Sora wasn't going to use the Ultima Weapon, a forged Keyblade, then someone had to. We had to try everything we possibly could in order to beat Ansem.

"Can't just let it sit and go to waste." I acted all disappointed as if it was a crime taking ownership of the Keyblade. My hand fit perfectly around the handle. It wasn't too heavy or light, and the length of it was decent for me. _I can really feel the power in it._

"Aw, but it looks so cool..." Sora whined. "Can't I use it for a little while?"

"Oops," I gasped. The new Keyblade flashed away, leaving me empty-handed. It wasn't gone for good or anything like that. Whenever I needed it, it'd be back in my hands again. I couldn't wait to try it out. "Sorry, Sora. Guess it wants me as its master. When we beat Ansem, I might let you use it."

"Awesome!" he grinned.

"Hey, uh... How long is that gonna take?"


	63. The End of the World

"Sora! We're taking too much damage!"

Donald was rapidly pressing buttons on the control panel as Sora maneuvered the gummi ship through the asteroid belt. Red lights were flashing in the cockpit from the debris constantly pelting the exterior. Enemy vessels, powerful ones at that, were taking our dilemma as an opportunity to attack. While we were able to endure the onslaught, the ship took on a heavy amount of damage.

"Just keep firing the lasers!" Sora ordered him and Goofy, who obediently did their parts. But, in spite of all the right things they did, the enemies out there were flooding us with attacks that repeatedly struck the gummi ship. "Oh no! The engines went out!"

"We're not going to make it!" Goofy yelled, running to buckle himself in his seat. "Brace yourselves!"

"I knew I should've been the pilot!" were Donald's last words before we crashed through a blockade of Heartless.

The ship rolled through space with smoke and flames spewing out the back. It shook uligts up, but no one was hurt from the impact. Well, except for the gummi ship. We tried every button we could think of, but it wouldn't budge. It was dead in space. There weren't anymore attacks, though, so that was a good thing.

"Aw, phooey," Donald grumbled and kicked the base of the control panel. "I told you to go the other way, Sora!"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault that we crashed!" Sora argued back, folding his arms and slumping in the pilot's seat.

"Gwarsh, Donald, it'll be okay," Goofy tried to calm down the renegade duck, but Donald only yelled at him in anger.

I sighed and looked out the cracked window as the lights continued to flash. Darkness was oozing through. If we didn't act fast, then it'd come right in and swallow us up. Worst case scenario was that we'd all end up turning into Heartless. _Is this really the end of the road?_

 **"Fool... You made a mistake coming this far. Traverse into the depths of the end of all worlds, if you dare."**

Ansem's voice echoed in my ears at that moment, when we were adrift. Suddenly, the gummi ship started moving by itself. I didn't realize where we were being pulled to, until I saw a mass of pinkish light. No, it wasn't light. This was something else. Thick black clouds orbited the mass, and blue streams flowed in from the top.

"Did you guys hear that?" I asked in a hushed voice and stood up from my seat. Sora nodded, but the others hadn't heard anything. Strange. Maybe it was a Keyblade Wielder sort of thing, or they were just too distracted to listen. But what mattered more right now was that unusual... I had no idea what to call it. For the sake of not knowing, I'd just call it the _End of the World_ , or the _End of the Worlds_.

"W-We're going inside that?!" Sora held onto the armrests as the gummi ship was sucked inside a strong vortex.

"Looks like it," I said, sitting back down. "We'd better be ready for anything."

* * *

The gummi ship made its final landing in an open cave. It was beat up beyond recognition. There was no way we'd be able to fly it again. We said our goodbyes to the gummi ship and continued on through the cave. No sounds but the sound of our footsteps. This place was devoid of life, and it was devoid of warm light, too.

At the end of the cave, we saw something mysterious. A vast and empty wasteland. Small, snow-covered rocks were spread out as far as the eye could see. I saw four pillars in the distance, along with a peculiar light. It must have been a portal of some kind. How were we supposed to get across, though? There were pieces of rock floating around, and we were standing at the edge of solid ground. Unless...

I stuck my foot out and stepped down on the empty field, but it didn't fall through anything. Rather, I was stepping on solid ground. It was simply invisible to the eye. Smirking, I pulled my foot back and continued to view the dark world. There was a way across.

"Gwarsh, is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?" Goofy nervously bit his fingers and looked out at the unfortunate sight.

"Those worlds will be restored if we beat Ansem, right?" Sora asked.

"You betcha," Donald said confidently, and he was right.

"But, if we do beat Ansem and all these worlds become restored and disconnected..." Sora was trailing off. He looked all over the End of the World with a thoughtful gaze. "What's gonna happen to this place? And to us?"

"Well, uh..." Donald looked for the right words, but he came up with nothing.

I closed my eyes and thought about it for a moment. The End of the World was not an ordinary world; it was a place that lacked light. Compared to the worlds we had ever been to, it was basking in darkness. This world was made up entirely of darkness. I felt no presence of the light, other than ourselves.

"Hmm..." Goofy hummed and tapped his finger on his nose. "That's a tricky one."

"Not really," I shook my head.

"What do you mean, Kara?" Sora asked me.

"Unlike the other worlds, this is a Heartless world," I said, gesturing to the open plain with my arms. "If we beat Ansem and stop the Heartless here, then it'll just disappear. You know, like how we beat the Heartless with our Keyblades. Everything will just... fade away."

"What?!" Sora and Donald gasped.

"No worries!" Goofy jumped in, reeling in their attention. "Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' anywhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again. Yup! I just know that we will!"

"Uh-huh!" Donald nodded.

"Yeah, you're right," Sora agreed, as did I. Peeking out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sora looking down at something in his hand. Ah... it's the charm Kairi gave him. He'd better keep it safe, then. Kairi would be mad if we returned home with it broken or missing. I've never seen an angry Kairi, but it was probably scary.

"So..." he started again, looking down at the emptiness beyond our point. "Do we have to fly across or what?"

"Try it out and see," I joked. But, then Sora pinpointed the next rock and took in a deep breath. He skipped out to the last rock close by and jumped into the air. _Oh, I didn't think he'd actually do it._ It was going good so far with the gliding, and the other two joined in. Shrugging my shoulders, I ran out to catch up with them so that I wasn't left behind.

We almost made it to the rock, when a gigantic sphere of darkness fell down from the sky and scooped us up. I shielded my eyes until the blinding flare calmed down. But, when I opened them, I found myself in an entirely different location. Snow was falling all around. It was a valley with his peaks all over. A single path wound through it, so it seemed. But, the other parts of this valley was blockaded by walls of darkness.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Donald grumbled. He popped his head out of the snow and shook off the chilly ice from his head. "Where are we?"

"Doesn't matter, we've got company!" Sora yelled.

Manifesting from purple flames was a group of Heartless, but they were of the pureblood kind. Heart-shaped holes in their chests let us know that they were Heartless. Of course, it was easy to tell because of the yellow eyes and hostile approach they took. These ones were awfully strong and skilled with the swords they wielded, but we beat them in a fiery battle.

Defeating the Heartless returned us to the empty plain we were just at before being swallowed up in that orb of darkness. It was almost a relief being back, but what was that place? _Is there more than one dimension tied to this one?_ I wondered.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed. "Are we walking on thin air?"

He was cautiously stepping around with Donald and Goofy, mystified that there was nothing under their feet. I almost forgot that it was still the ground, just unseen. Their silliness even in this kind of a situation was enlightening, though. It made me giggle.

"Oh, look!" Donald pointed at something on one of the stationary rocks sticking out in the middle of the empty road.

"Treasure!" Sora and Goofy cheered. He ran over to the green chest and tapped his Keyblade on the locked lid. Like a normal chest, it opened up to reveal a shard. Not a special one, but something we'd be able to use for synthesizing more items... if we could ever make it back to Traverse Town.

But, wait, that chest looked familiar. Back in that strange dimension with all of the snow, I recalled seeing one lying around in the same position as this one.

I knelt down and slipped my fingers into the small pile of snow. It was cold to the touch. _This rock and that other dimension are... tied together?_ I thought. My eyes scanned the area and spotted several more just like the one we were standing over. _Maybe it's not another dimension, after all._

"Somethin' wrong, Kara?" Goofy asked me.

I stood up and tossed the snow out of my hand to the ground. The gears in my head were rolling, but an answer had yet to come up. "I can't quite put my finger on it. There's something about this world that we're missing."

Deciding to move forward, we came across more giant orbs falling from the sky throughout the field and another treasure chest sitting on a rock. Interestingly enough, the rocks were pointed in a single direction. And when we ran in that direction, we made it to the next rock fragment.

"Hey, I'm gonna open this one, too," Sora said, pointing at the chest.

"I don't think that's a good ide- Aah!" I yelped as one of those giant orbs sucked us up. Opening the chest triggered an apparent trap.

"S-Sorry!" he apologized, fending off some Heartless.

Being sent back to that snowy place brought a thought to my mind. The snow I was seeing on those rocks and the random treasure chests put the pieces of the puzzle in my head together. It was the same place, but we couldn't see everything beyond the orbs. To see the big picture, we had to get sucked into them.

We encountered many new types of Heartless and a couple more Behemoths. The frequent encounters forced us to fight until we finally made it to the end, where we fought one last Behemoth. Defeating it transported us to a new area- a giant crevasse spanning many levels of various heights.

"I wonder where that Ansem feller went?" Goofy thought out loud, looking down into the abyss below.

"If we dive into the deepest and most dangerous place, we'll find him." I jumped down into the crevasse with the others right beside me, and we glided down to the lowest level. There was a pit brimming with corrupted light. It was another portal, but I could feel something else just standing near it.

* * *

Surprisingly, there weren't as many Heartless as I thought there might be. For a Heartless world, it was lacking in the foe department. We were in another new area after going through the second portal. Round platforms stood in the midst of a misty darkness with pillars of purple light rising in their centers.

We traveled to each one and ended up venturing through worlds we had traveled once before- Traverse Town, Wonderland, Agrabah, and others. It was a terminus where we fought waves of Heartless in previously adventured worlds.

"What is this place?" Donald asked.

The last pillar of fiery darkness we stepped through brought us to an unfamiliar world. The layout looked eerily similar to that of Hollow Bastion, and that was the only world we had yet to visit in the terminus. So, that had to be where we were.

Of course, we took on another wave of Heartless in the hall. There were only so many places we could go, with the area being ravaged by rifts of space and giant Heartless emblems acting as barricades. It was a bit of a maze until we came across a room with five capsules hooked up to come kind of tank.

"Weird," Sora muttered.

"It's a lab," I said, stepping through the opened doors. Sora followed me inside, but then the doors slammed shut and cut us off from Donald and Goofy. We tried to open it up, but it was no use. "Great... looks like we're locked in."

"Oops..." he dropped his head apologetically.

Smiling, I nudged Sora in the arm with my elbow. "Don't worry, they'll be okay. And we'll find a way out."

"First, let's see what that big machine is. Maybe it'll open the door."

Walking around the warped parts of the lab, we approached the big machine and found a computer. I rested my hands on the table and examined the words on the monitor. It was a bit hard to read with the screen being all fuzzy, but I read out loud what I found:

 _"Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness, tied by two keys. The door to darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. One born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens."_

I took a step back from the computer and folded my arms to think for a moment. The message meant something, something really big. But, what? Parts of it I could understand. Parts of it weren't too hard to understand, though. It just took a little bit of thinking.

"We've got company!" Sora pulled me out of my thoughts.

More Invisibles, the Heartless with swords and dangerous teleporting attacks, appeared in the laboratory with us. Without Donald and Goofy to help us, we were on our own fighting against them. Thankfully, there were only a few. Sora and I pulled through thanks to our growing skill with the Keyblades. I actually quite liked the new one I got from Mog's forge. It was really strong and did incredible damage to the Heartless.

Once the enemies were taken out, the doors to the lab opened to let Donald and Goofy in. They had their staff and shield ready to fight, but they stood down when they saw it was just us. _Great, everyone's back together_ , I sighed in relief.

"What happened in there?!" Donald quickly ran over to us, jumping over one of the warped holes in the ground. "We thought we lost you!"

"We found this huge computer and a message," Sora told them, pointing to the mysterious contraption sitting against the wall. They read through the message themselves, but they couldn't decipher it.

"Hm, I wonder what it means," Goofy said.

"Ones born of the heart and darkness... devoid of hears and hungering for every heart..." I mumbled the words.

"You figured something out?" Donald asked me. I thought about it a little bit more until I felt the light bulb ding in my mind. Giving him a nod, I stepped back over to the computer and studied it one last second to try and wrap my head around the rest of the message.

"Ones born of the heart and darkness," I began, turning back to my friends. "It's a reference to the Heartless. Well, I think it's explaining the very nature of them. And this bit about the seven hearts and the Keyhole must be talking about the seven princesses."

"Gosh, Kara, you're so smart!" Goofy said, patting me on the back.

I giggled and shook my head, "Thanks, but there's still something I'm not too sure about. You see this stuff about Kingdom Hearts? I just can't figure out what it means. The door to darkness, tied by two keys..."

"We can figure it out later," Sora said. "Come on!"

Before I could go on, he dragged me away to the hole in the wall we came in through. The red pillar we investigated dispersed. In its place was a sinkhole, our only exit out of this place. It was shady but also the only thing we had yet to check out. So we jumped into it and entered in hopes of finding Ansem, but it turned out to be a great and empty place.

"Hey, look, we're flying again!" Sora did flips through the air after discovering that we could fly again.

We had our fun flying around, but our attention soon fell upon a single mountain sitting in the middle of the dark void. All was quiet, until a massive figure burst through the peak of the mountain. Lava spilled down the sides of it, giving it the appearance of an active volcano. A roaring monster emerged from a giant pillar of flames, dispelling the fire with its powerful wings.

"A Heartless?!" Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"No, it's Chernabog!" Donald corrected him. "Be careful, everyone!"

With nowhere to hide, we were out in the open in the fight against Chernabog. He was a powerful foe that fought us without the assistance of Heartless. There was a tale that Donald and Goofy shared with us about their king and this monster. They had fought before during the king's early years, but then Chernabog went missing along with his world. So, this was what happened to him. He fell into darkness and ended up in this dark world ruled by Heartless. What a sad fate.


	64. The Final Battle Commences

Defeating Chernabog wasn't easy, but it allowed us to move on and make our way through the dark world. We flew into the volcanic crater and carefully explored a long path of linked fragments of worlds destroyed by the darkness. It was a creepy place crawling with Heartless. At the end, we found ourselves in a huge chamber with the Heartless emblem on the far wall.

"Phew..." Sora panted. "We beat the Behemoth."

"Thank goodness," Donald collapsed to the ground after a drawn out battle against the powerful Heartless.

"It's not over yet!" I bumped Donald in the backside with my shoe as swarms of Neoshadow appeared all around us.

Several waves of Heartless had to be fought through. Beating them seemed to open the way to another chamber hidden behind the emblem on the wall. Somehow, we made it out of the Heartless swarm, and the emblem on the wall crumbled away to reveal another way through. There were no more to fight beyond that point, thankfully. It gave us time to rest and recuperate from the nonstop fighting. My arms were going numb from swinging the Keyblade, which made resting all the more needed.

Sora was standing in the middle of the chamber with his eyes wide open. He was staring at a peculiar door. "I... I remember seeing this door in a dream once."

"How do you know it's the same one?" Donald asked him, but Sora shrugged his shoulders.

The door was strangely nice to see with it not being anything like the rest of the End of the World. Sora took a step closer to it, but he suddenly jumped away and looked around as if something was haunting him.

"Huh?" he shook his head.

"What's wrong, Sora?" Donald asked him, but Sora was silent for a while.

"Don't you hear something?" Sora asked. "There!"

"A... voice?" I tilted my head to the side and rested my hand on the door.

"You hear it, too, Kara?" Sora gasped.

"Y-Yeah." I nodded, but my eyes never left the door. _It's faint, but I do hear something. Is it coming from the other side of this door?_

 **"Careful. This is the last haven you'll find here. Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your hearts are the mightiest weapons of all..."**

The voice faded after a little while, but I took its words as warning for what was to come. We couldn't let looks deceive us. This world was embodied by darkness, so there couldn't possibly be any light. Ansem was surely awaiting us wherever this door led to.

"I am the one who will open the door to light...?" I heard Sora mutter.

"What?"

"I don't hear anything," Donald interrupted.

Neither of them seemed to hear anything we did, but what was that that Sora was mumbling about? The door to the light. A connection with the door to darkness, probably. I wasn't that much closer to coming to a conclusion about it all just yet, though.

"Strange," Sora shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his neck. "That voice was so familiar. Maybe it's just my imagination."

"Maybe you'd better take a rest!" Donald suggested. "Both of you."

"We can think up a plan for beating Ansem!" Goofy chimed in.

There may not be a way out if we go through that door, so it was a better idea to stay out here and rest while we still could. My body was exhausted, too. I could see the fatigue wearing Sora out. His face was pale and eyes droopy. The time we spent in this world may not have been the longest, but it was spent with a lot of action. Perhaps it was also the exposure to darkness. I found it surprising that we'd be able to take a break in a place like this, but it was happening.

* * *

The door opened automatically for us and let us through. On the other side of the door, I was expecting to see a hideous world desecrated by the darkness. A world completely devoid of light, existing only as a virus. If that were the case... If there was nothing but darkness... Why was I suffering from this longing feeling? Why did I want to cry? None of it made any sense. Not one bit.

I walked ahead of the others down the sandy shore. My ears tuned in to the splashing waves and gentle breeze. A vast blue sea lied beyond the shoreline, where all sorts of sailing adventures could be had. To my right were the tree house and waterfall. "I don't believe it."

"Is this... Is this our island?" Sora gasped softly and admired the familiar view of our home.

"Gwarsh, your home is so pretty," Goofy said, playing in the sand. Of course, Donald got him to stop messing with it since we were on a really important mission.

"It sure is..." I breathed.

It looked like Destiny Islands, but I knew better than that. Our _home_ was nothing else but a fragment of the End of the World. The piece of our world we loved so much was bound to turn into another battlefield. This was the final point we were to venture into. The journey we took was finally coming to an end.

"Something's not right," Sora said.

Just as he said that, I spotted something out on the water. The small island where we had our fun sparring sessions with those dumb wooden swords. The bridge connecting to it vanished along with the island itself. That was probably the only thing that didn't fit, anyway. It was missing the paopu tree.

The running water from the waterfall near the tree house ceased, too. The small pond at the bottom ran dry, leaving a bunch of dry sand and dead grass. Right in front of our eyes, the home we once knew was being transfigured. My heart was being broken by every little thing that changed. I ran in a random direction, up to the dirt path next to the dried up space.

"Kara, where are you going?!" Sora shouted after me, but I continued to run without looking back.

 _The secret place... Did that go away, too?_ I bit my tongue and approached the entrance to the tunnel. Skidding to a halt at the beginning of the tunnel, I leaned forward to go inside but stopped when my ears caught wind of a faint voice echoing around.

 _"This world has been connected."_

I froze and straightened my composure. Sora, Donald, and Goofy joined me by the secret place. They heard the voice, too. There was only one person we knew it to belong to. Somewhere on the ruins of Destiny Islands, Ansem was lurking. I could feel his darkness spreading throughout this place. We looked around in search of the source of his voice, when a low rumbling started. "What was that?"

 _"Tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed."_

As he spoke, large portions of the island faded away. The clear blue water of the sea transformed into a purple, gooey substance- an ocean of venomous darkness. I backed away from the tunnel as the bushes and trees shook increasingly. We ran back to the shore, only to be stopped by the crumbling earth.

 _"There is so very much to learn. You understand so little."_

I gritted my teeth and tightened my fists. The Ultima Weapon in my right hand trembled under the harsh grip of my hand. "We'll stop you, Ansem!"

 _"A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."_

What was left of Destiny Islands looked nothing like home anymore. Storm clouds circled the island we were on, and the trees were thorny and dark. The docks and shack were collapsed and ripped apart by the darkness. In the end, that was all this place was. Another part of the darkness we fought against.

Someone was standing on the cracked up shore. His back was to us, but I recognized the dark and muscular physique. _Why did he have to take Riku's form again...?_

"Take a look at this tiny place," Ansem said, gesturing to the destroyed islands. "To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison surrounded by water."

"And so this boy sought out to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness."

Ansem was grinning as he turned around to face us. I couldn't glare any harder, seeing him smile in Riku's image. The tough visage of our friend broke away to let the true form of Ansem free. On his bare chest, the Heartless Emblem burned vibrantly.

"Riku!" Sora shouted.

"Don't bother," Ansem scoffed. "Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness."

An intense gaze was fixated on me. Ansem paused in his words and folded his arms as he looked my way. It seemed he was studying me, trying to understand something. But he said nothing and shook his head. Before too long, Ansem started to speak again concerning the great threat that was the darkness.

"All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different," he mused with carefully picked words. "Darkness sprouts within it. It grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came. You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."

Suddenly, the Heartless mastermind disappeared before our eyes, and he reappeared behind us. Jolting around, I spotted him hovering in the air up above us. Very clearly was he confident in his own understanding of the heart. He almost sounded convincing, but I knew better than that. What he said wasn't right, though. It couldn't possibly be. I couldn't bring myself to buy into it, and neither could my friends. We stood in opposition to Ansem together.

"That's not true!" Sora boldly protested against Ansem's words. "The heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that, deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

Holding my Keyblade out in front of me, I nodded in agreement to Sora. "You might not understand it now, Ansem. But darkness is not the heart's true essence. It's light!"

Ansem appeared angry with our approach. He rose again, and a shadowy being appeared behind him. It reminded me of how Guardian came to my side, and the two looked awfully similar. Except, this creature with Ansem was bulky and had cloth crossing over its toothy mouth. Folding his arms again, Ansem glared down at the four of us and frowned deeply.

"So, you've come this far, and still you understand nothing," he said in a low voice. "Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!"

"Come, Guardian."

 _Guardian?_ I gasped softly and jumped away from a crushing attack from the Heartless floating around with Ansem. It fought like a rabid animal, anxious to do harm to the nearest victim. Here and there, I was able to land a couple hits on the monster Ansem called Guardian, but it was incredibly sturdy. No hit seemed to faze it. The others were too occupied with fighting Ansem, but I'd rather they stop him than worry about this thing.

It only became problematic when Ansem called back for his partner to protect him. Again and again, we attacked it in hopes of defeating it. The Heartless Guardian was just too strong. What was there to even do about it?

Skidding back after defending against a strong punch from the muscular Heartless, I used Curaga on myself and regrouped with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. We were getting tired fighting Ansem, who had barely even lifted a finger against us the entire time.

"Hmph, you insolent fools put up a good fight," Ansem said. Seemingly in a rush, he drifted back into the lush trees blackened by darkness. We gave chase, but we lost sight of him and his Guardian.

"W-What's going on?!" Sora panicked as the ground beneath our feet quaked again.

The trees all around us fell to the ground and withered away and the large grouping of trees in the center of the island split apart. Darkness poured out from every inch and opened the core of the island into another area. I peered inside at the squirming darkness.

There was Ansem, waiting for us in the middle of all the darkness. He motioned for us to follow him inside, but reluctance bubbled inside me. No telling what was waiting for us beyond the boundary line separating us from him. If we were to step over, it was possible that we'd be swept away by a current of darkness, swallowed up inside it. But, on the other hand, we had no choice but to go in there if we wanted to stop him.

"What are we gonna do?" Goofy whimpered.

"Let's go and get him!" Donald yelled, rushing after Ansem. Surprisingly, Goofy rushed in right alongside him. But a barrier blocked them from entering the danger zone. The two bounced on the ground and back to Sora and I. "What... happened?"

"I don't understand," Sora shook his head. "He wants us to go after him, yet he's blocking us?"

"No... No, that's not it," I swallowed. "It's just us he wants, Sora."

"You mean, the two of us?" he pointed at himself and me.

"That's what I mean," I said, nodding to him. "You think you can handle it?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Sora grinned and whipped out his Keyblade. "And you?"

"Hah." I smiled confidently at Sora and rested the Ultima Weapon on my shoulder. "No need to ask me."


	65. The Heart Won't Lose to Darkness

Sora and I rushed into the heart of the darkness. The light of our hearts seemingly shielded us from the venomous shadows around us, protecting us from being consumed with the rest of the world. But, it was just as we thought. Something completely unexpected happened when we approached Ansem.

A giant hand slammed down on the ground and swiped at the two of us. I was separated from Sora, who was cornered by a giant Heartless- Darkside. For some reason, the Darkside was focused solely on Sora and kept me from getting to him.

"Huh?" I froze in place.

My ankles were grabbed by vines of darkness sprouting from the ground. With nothing to hold onto but the Keyblade in my hand, I was sucked into the darkness and pulled down into another abyss. I held my breath and clamped my eyes shut until it let go of me.

When I did open my eyes again, I found myself in an entirely different area than before. Sora was nowhere to be seen, nor were Donald and Goofy on the other side of the barrier. "Where am I?"

Thin streams of water ran down the walls all around. Thick roots broke through the walls and winded around the blackened rocks. They were crystallized in some places, or it was ice crystals. On a ledge overlooking the ring in the middle of the canyon, I spotted a golden star. _Weird, that looks like the one from the cove. The star we always tagged during our races together._

All of it carried properties of the home I knew. Then it must have been another part of it that was ripped away into the darkness. Looking up, I could see Sora fighting the Darkside, but he may not have been able to see me where I was.

"What's this...?"

On the ground in front of me, I noticed something in particular laying around. It was three somethings, actually. A yellow paopu fruit and a couple of envelopes. I picked them up into my hands and wondered why they were just lying there.

 _A freshly picked fruit from that one tree on the island..._ I admired the paopu fruit in my left hand. It was odd that it was so fresh and ripe. Somehow, the fruit was preserved so perfectly. Did it taste like the real deal?

And these letters... They were addressed to me, but there was no sign for who it was from. The first letter was old and crinkled. I read through it contents and found it to be the same as a letter I had read a long time ago, before I ever went on this journey. Same as before, there was a smudge at the end, making it somewhat hard to understand.

"I wonder how this got here," I mumbled, searching the paper thoroughly.

I discarded the first letter to a rock off to the side and opened up the next one. This one was clean and unwrinkled. It hadn't been read yet and was addressed to me, too. Clinging to the paopu fruit, I investigated the second letter...

 _Kara,_

 _If you are reading this, then you must have made it to the outside world._

 _I was certain that we'd be reunited again soon after you left, but it seems this body will not allow it._

 _Do not worry... My life is one of many._

 _We will meet again, in some shape or form- It is only a matter of time._

 _I implore you to stay on the path set for you, whether it leads you down a road of light or darkness._

 _The end result will be the same, nonetheless._

 _So, don't worry about what happens, even if it means leaving them behind._

 _The next door will open, and all connections will be met again._

 _May your heart be your guiding key..._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Dad_

 _A note from Dad..._ My eyes fell to the signature at the bottom of the brief letter. It had been so long since I actually received letters from him. How long had it been since I last saw him? Months? Years? I lost track of the days. The letters just stopped one day. I never got another after finding that mysterious note in my room.

Reading the new note, a deep concern began to wreak havoc to the emotions in my heart. It gave off the vibe that something bad was happening to my father. Or, rather, that was exactly what the contents were implying. Something bad had to have happened to him. But, how was I supposed to help him? Maybe he was attacked by the Heartless during one of his outings. Lost in darkness. Perhaps he was someplace in this Heartless world.

I wanted to go out and find him, but I knew that was not possible. We were trapped in this fragment of home tossed about by the darkness, until Ansem was dealt with. Perhaps I shouldn't be worrying too much about it. If he did lose himself, then I could get him back through one method...

"What a peculiar child."

Interrupting my thinking was Ansem, who sat with his leg hanging over a high ledge. Once again, he took on my lost friend's form. I glared up at him and bit back the urge to charge him. More likely than not, it was a trap waiting to be sprung. Ansem seemed like a wise guy who had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve. He wasn't the type to be trusted, especially with his dark reputation.

Slipping the notes into my back pocket, I whipped out the Ultima Weapon and stood with my defenses high. Ansem simply smirked in response to my action, and he chuckled deeply. Was it amusing to him that I was ready to fight him? Alone, maybe, but still willing.

Ansem paused in his laughter and shifted his eyes to the yellow fruit in my other hand. "You cling to that fruit."

"Yeah? What of it?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Supposedly, a legend surrounds that particular kind," he continued. "Those who partake of it together are bound by destiny... I imagine you were wanting to try it."

"What?" I cringed and threw the fruit away. At the same time, an embarrassing blush burned on my cheeks. "T-That's none of your business!"

"This boy..." Ansem ignored me, and he looked down at his hands. He wore a thoughtful expression. "There was a time when I felt what he felt. Perhaps it was also his desire to eat that fruit with someone-"

"Can we skip to the part where I take you down?" I rolled my eyes.

Ansem's mouth was still open as if to finish speaking, but he clamped it shut and jumped down to my level. A moment later, that dark Keyblade he used back at Hollow Bastion manifested in his hands. What? But I thought that was destroyed when Sora released the princesses' hearts. I was dumbfounded but chose to set the confusing topic aside. There was no time for questions. The time to fight was now.

As Sora fought with the Darkside above, I clashed with Ansem in the depths of darkness. It was tough staying toe to toe with him, but I parried his attacks and fought back with all that I could. When I thought I had an opening, I swung downward to strike him, but he reacted too quickly and blocked me.

"You call this a _Keyblade_?" Ansem's eyes traced every point of the Ultima Weapon. From the battles we faced throughout the dark world, it was chipping in some places. The wear and tear was hopefully a normal thing for a Keyblade. I sure hoped it was. At least it was still durable enough to pull me through this fight.

Ignoring Ansem's taunt, I pushed back against him in our clash. My words were cold toward him. "It's the ultimate Keyblade. With it, I'll defeat you and bring back everything that you took from us!"

"The ultimate Keyblade," he mused. "This is nothing but a fake forged by science, I take it. A true Keyblade cannot be built by material alone."

"Rely on that thing anymore, you will lose. See it? The light you possess is outmatched by the darkness. It fades. And the darkness will surely take its place."

I jumped away from Ansem and shook my head. "I fell for it once and became a pawn. Not again."

"Perhaps you will not submit to my darkness now, but what of the darkness in your own heart?" he asked me, colliding Keyblades again and again.

"My darkness?" I blinked.

Remaining silent, Ansem flicked his wrist and faced the palm of his hand at me. I wondered what he had in mind, but then I saw something happening to my shadow. It twisted ad turned as darkness burned into it. A black figure rose behind me, but it bore no emblems. There was just an aura of darkness around it. Yellow eyes snapped open and stared at Ansem, then they focused on me.

 _Why do I feel like this happened before?_ I wondered. No, wait... That was because it did happen before, a while back. The details were a bit hazy at this point, but I was sure this was the same thing or similar.

"Behold, the living embodiment of the darkness that rests within your heart," Ansem spoke again, marveling at the sight. He tilted his head to the side and smirked. "Beckoned only by the influence of dark power. To think that it'd try to hide away... Ah. It had a name, did it not?"

 _Have I really forgotten you being there_. My eyes locked with the shadowy figure. It hissed and radiated with darkness, but it refrained from attacking me. Something prevented it from hurting me, or maybe it didn't want to.

But, this peculiar feeling I got standing near it.

"Guardian..." I breathed, and the darkness-imbued shadow lifted its head. The corners of my lips twitched and curved into a smile. "It is you, isn't it?"

 _"Hisssss..."_

"You are more accepting to it than I thought," Ansem said. I turned my head to him and glared. "Peculiar, indeed."

"What did you do?" I asked him, not forgetting that he did something to bring out Guardian.

"Consider it a gift," he smirked. "One day, it will be that your heart will fall prey to the darkness. That will also be the day when I gain a new tool."

"Didn't I say I wouldn't fall for it again?" I growled. Guardian hovered behind me, the dark aura settling down around her. As I prepared to engage Ansem again in battle, Guardian let out a roar to signal that she was fighting, too. "You're about to lose, Ansem."

"We shall see... Kara," Ansem grinned. Suddenly, a Corridor of Darkness opened behind him as he reverted to his true form. "Before I deal with you, there is one more pest that needs to be taken care of."

His eyes flickered up at Sora, who looked like he was doing well against the Darkside. I had no doubt that he was going to target Sora. Not on my watch, though. I chased after Ansem through the corridor in hopes of preventing him from having his way.

* * *

Emerging from the dark corridor, I tripped on my foot and rolled back out to where Sora was. I quickly got up to my feet and rushed over to his side after the Darkside faded. We were happy to see each other again, and he was surprised to see that Guardian was lingering around with me. It was a story that would have to be told later on, because Ansem showed up during our brief reunion.

Not a word escaped his mouth when he attacked us. The beastly Heartless that supported him arose from his shadow and roared to life. We took him on again with the help of my _Guardian_. Ansem fought us with reorganized tactics.

Sora and I faced a lot of difficulty avoiding their combined assault, but we fended him off to the best of our abilities and dealt some serious blows to the seeker of darkness. Ansem had a hard time keeping track of the both of us when we were running around him and swinging wildly. Our powers combined when we used strike raid on him from two sides, an attack he was not expecting. It made the Heartless man stagger back and drop to a knee, but the battle was hardly over.

"This is not... the end," Ansem growled under his breath, releasing the barrier that blocked Donald and Goofy.

"Sora! Kara!" they shouted, hurrying over to us.

We were sure that we were winning in the battle against Ansem, but then a mass of darkness swallowed up the remaining parts of the island. I held onto my friends as it pulled us into another void- a realm completely empty, surrounding us with only darkness.

I let go of Sora's hand and looked around. To my surprise, we were standing on seemingly nothing.

"Wha...?" Sora gasped, searching through the darkness with his eyes. "What's going on?!"

"Behold the endless abyss!" Ansem's voice boomed in our ears. "Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!"

My eyes widened at the sight of a white door in the distance. I could also see something stirring in the darkness behind it. In the middle of all this darkness, it shined brilliantly. Never before had I seen anything like it. _So, this is the door to Kingdom Hearts..._ I was amazed beyond belief.

"Look as hard as you are able," Ansem began again. "You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born Even yours..."

"Darkness conquers all worlds!"

Rising from the abyss below was a monstrous creature. It blocked our line of view of the door and revealed to us a transformed Ansem and Guardian. Ansem grew into a colossal form, merging with his Heartless companion. The size he took on rivaled that of two or three worlds put together. He was massive.

"Whoa!"

The invisible platform beneath our feet broke away, and we all fell into the abyss. Donald and Goofy, rather than falling into the darkness, fell into a portal of darkness. Another one opened up below me, and I had no way of getting out of it.

"Kara!" Sora reached out to me as we fell.

"Sora!" I held my hand out to him, but it was too late. Our fingertips touched when the portal sucked me in.

My vision briefly blacked out a moment later. And when I awoke, I found myself in a pitch black room with a giant Heartless emblem glowing on the ground. Its blue glow provided me with no light to see around me. The absence of light was extreme and real. "Guys?"

No answer. I was all alone in this void of darkness. Or so I thought.

* * *

 _Sora groped for something to hold onto as he continued to fall into the darkness. Flipping around, he could see the portals that took his friends closing. They were all gone and he was the only one left. It made him afraid. At this rate, he would be next._

 _"Giving up already? Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that."_

 _Was it just his imagination? Riku's words filled his head, encouraging him to get back up and face the difficult trial set before him. Sora grinned and brought out his Keyblade. The faith in his heart burned strong, motivating him to fly back up to Ansem, the seeker of darkness's level. The darkness would not be swallowing him up just yet._

 _Although he was not sure if he could finish Ansem off alone in his current state, Sora had a feeling that he could figure out a way to win. He would rescue his friends, even if it meant fighting alone for the time being._

 _Ansem was waiting for him at the top of the World of Chaos. He wielded a double-edged sword resembling the dark sword Riku once used. The enlarged Guardian behind him was eager to bite into his light, for sure. This enhanced foe was intimidating to say the least, but Sora bit back his fear and flew towards them._

 _They clashed on even grounds in spite of the sizable difference between them. Yet, even though he was at a major disadvantage, Sora was able to outmaneuver Ansem and force him into retreating. The dark seeker dismissed his blade and tucked himself inside the groove of Guardian. Serving as a shield from outside attacks was the emblem of his kind. Sora attempted to break through it, but he was repelled by a powerful gust of wind._

 _"A portal?" the boy gasped, spotting one of the portals that took his friends. It was sure to lead him straight to them, so he took it as an opportunity without wasting a moment's time._

 _On the other side of the portal, Sora discovered a unique area blacked out completely. The blue emblem on the ground made visible the black bodies of Shadows. There were hundreds of them. In the middle of the hostile creatures with glowing eyes, he saw a lone individual fighting off the numerous Heartless. A girl wielding a Keyblade._ _She spun around like a vortex, taking out several of them. But, when she stopped, the girl's eyes fell on Sora._

 _"Sora!" she yelled._

 _"Kara!" he replied, running over to his friend._

 _Together, they challenged the Shadows to a bout and pushed through the threat of darkness. The army of Shadows soon diminished, leaving the Keyblade Wielders to face the heart of the inner realm of the World of Chaos. Striking it pained the world. Perhaps it was the captive heart inside of Ansem._ _The duo destroyed it in hopes of escaping, and it did open a portal out. Their escape was an explosive one._

* * *

"Thanks, Sora," I sighed in relief when we made it back out.

"You bet!" he nodded. Our attention returned to Ansem, whose form was obscured by an aura of eroding darkness. While we wanted to go after him, we had to find Donald and Goofy. They were still trapped wherever Ansem threw them. So, we had to find an alternative route to defeating him.

Extra appendages sprouted along the monstrous Heartless, and they were for us to fight. Now that we were able to move around freely, Sora and I teamed up to destroy them. The last one to be defeated burst in an explosion, which led to the opening of another portal. The evil Guardian attempted to keep us from going through it, but we winded around it and flew inside the portal.

"Oh boy, Sora!" Goofy cried out, punching a Heartless with his shield. "And Kara, too!"

"We'll help you out!" I declared, assisting them in the fight against several Darkballs.

As it happened before, a heart appeared in the air. We destroyed it to get back out with Goofy, leaving only Donald to rescue. But, to get to Donald, we were going to have to fight the World of Chaos itself, or the head of it. There was another Heartless merged with Ansem, and it was a fearsome looking one.

We couldn't get too close, or else it would try to eat or blast us with some kind of energy wave. Defeating it didn't come easy, but we were able to do it. The portal that Donald was surely behind opened inside its mouth of all places. Regardless of where it was, though, we chose to go into it to save our friend.

"Help me!" Donald quacked, using his magic to fend of a team of Invisibles.

"Give me strength!" Sora charged up his power, rushing into the middle of the fighting field.

He stabbed his Keyblade into the ground and spun on top of it as a blistering light shot out all over. There was no need to do anything anymore, because his impressive attack took care of all of the Heartless around, save for one. I took care of the surviving Heartless so that they could eliminate the heart that appeared.

After attacking it, we were able to escape together. The head of the monster Heartless was destroyed, leaving us to find a way to beat Ansem. We made our way through a part of the World of Chaos, to what had to be its core. It was purple and looked sort of like the heart of the Heartless. Well, the main heart, anyway. This had to be Ansem's final line of defense.

"Attack!" Sora shouted at the top of his lungs, leading the fight against the main core.

It wiggled and jiggled with each strike, eventually imploding after too much strain was put on it. Flying back out to where Ansem was, he was ejected from his shelter inside the giant Heartless. Guardian, the one that was apparently good willed, rose up from behind me and hissed at the enemy.

"Yeah, we're going to beat him once and for all," I rested my hand on Guardian's head. It calmed her and encouraged her to fight alongside us.

Altogether, we took on the final obstacle of Ansem. He had new tactics to use against us, such as a rain of piercing darkness and more lasers. What he couldn't beat was a tag team assault from Sora and I. We called it the _Dual Arcanum_ , and it severely injured Ansem. Suffering too much damage, the World of Chaos crumbled apart and faded back into darkness. Ansem shrunk down to his normal size, and he was without his guardian.

The battle didn't leave us in the best of shape, either. My body was crying out in pain from the beating I took. If only I could take a moment to rest, but not with Ansem still around. _I... I won't drop just yet...!_


	66. The End

**A/N** Phew... Been working on this for a long time now, and here we are! The end of the story is upon us! As if it'd just end here, though. (;A;)**

* * *

"Can't you see? This is the end of all of you," Ansem said.

His arm hung limp at his side as he faced us again. Blowing up his World of Chaos form apparently wasn't enough to finish the job, and now he was back for more. I snuck a glance over to the others. They were beat, too, but not quite out of it just yet. _Good, everyone can still move... Just one last go, and it's over. I won't let him win!_

"Ansem," I hissed. "You're done!"

"Get him, Kara!" Donald and Goofy cheered me on as I rushed toward Ansem.

In an effort to beat Ansem, I rushed him and attempted to cut down the Heartless boss. I was so sure that his reflexes slowed down after that beating he took. He looked so much weaker than before. Yet, in spite of the injuries Ansem sustained, he was able to hold off my attack with his bare hand.

I gritted my teeth and pushed back against him, but Ansem stood his ground. His fingers wrapped around the chipping blade of the Ultima Weapon. _Where did this strength come from?! He was losing just a moment ago..._ I wondered. The more I struggled, Ansem had an easier time keeping me back. It was unreal how fast his recovery was.

"Insolent child," Ansem growled, clamping down on the Ultima Weapon with his full strength. I gasped when the golden filigree shattered completely. The middle of the long blade was cracked beyond reconstruction by the force of Ansem's grip; it threatened to snap in half. "This is no Keyblade. Supreme power? I pity you for falling for such misinformation."

"No way!" Sora exclaimed. "The ultimate Keyblade is breaking!"

"That can't be right!" Donald shook his head in disbelief. "Kara, get away from him!"

"Gwarsh, this doesn't look good," Goofy whimpered, ducking behind his shield.

Mercilessly, Ansem crushed the remains of the Keyblade forged by the moogle brothers. The tiny fragments scattered and broke apart in my hand. Even the smallest particle that was left faded away, leaving me with nothing. I was wide eyed, shocked that the supreme Keyblade was destroyed in an instant. Sora and the others were shouting at me, demanding that I get away from Ansem, but I was frozen in place.

Ansem's hand rose above his head and a purple aura engulfed it. The darkness rising from his shoulders gave me a bad feeling, like I had no chance of escape. "Now show me what your precious _light_ can do."

"Trinity!" I heard Sora, Donald, and Goofy shouted as beams of darkness shot out from violet orbs.

* * *

 _"Erg..."_

 _Ansem, the notorious seeker bent on controlling the darkness to consume all worlds and hearts, writhed in pain as the powerful light from the trio's Trinity attack impacted him. Such light was ruthless. He hardly had the time to recover for a counterattack. Holding his side to dull the ache, Ansem gritted his teeth and shook the dizziness from his head. While he could still move, he would not let the warriors of light tarnish his efforts to obtain Kingdom Hearts._

 _Although in agony, the dark seeker smirked when he saw one of them suffering just as much as he was. Perhaps Sora, Donald, and Goofy were able to land a devastating blow to his being, but his dark laser assault hit the mark. It was imbued with the remaining power in his possession, but he figured that it would be fine. The door was nearby; his plan was unfolding almost perfectly._

 _"It is futile..." Ansem chuckled weakly, rising back to their level. His eyes focused for a moment on Sora and his legendary Keyblade. What power it held. How he desired to have it in his own hands. "The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness."_

 _In dramatic movements, Ansem whipped around and extended his hand to the door leading to Kingdom Hearts. He could see it now. The heart-shaped silhouette lingering in the shadows behind the magnificently plain doorway. It would soon be his._

 _"Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness..."_

 _Budging open a slight amount, a mist of darkness began pouring out from between the crack of the door. It crept along, inching ever closer to Ansem and the heroes who bravely faced him. Ansem grinned and rose to meet it. Holding his arms out, he elected to accepting it into his being. "Supreme darkness..."_

 _All eyes fell on the door. Sora's jaw clenched as he saw what was happening. Glancing down at his injured friend, the Keyblade master fed off the courage boiling over in his heart and confronted Ansem. He was certain now and had no doubts._

 _"You're wrong, Ansem," Sora began in a bold tone. "I know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts... is light!"_

 _A brilliant ray of light replaced the darkness flooding out from the door. It spared Ansem in no way. The Heartless mastermind shielded his eyes as the heavy rays eroded the darkness making up his body. It pained him, but... The light was surprisingly beautiful to his eyes of darkness._

 _"Light..." Ansem choked, succumbing to his fate. "But... Why...?"_

 _With Ansem gone and faded away, Sora and the others landed on the only visible bit of land there was surrounding the door. It was still open and needed to be closed or else the darkness would return again. They couldn't spare too much time anymore._

 _"Kara, I..." Sora's voice cracked. He paused and helped her down to the ground. Donald and Goofy had her by the other side, easing her down so that she could lie on her back. Now that he could see how bad it was, Sora was wrapped in a blanket of concern. "I-I'm so sorry. This wouldn't have happened if I got there sooner."_

 _"Don't... apologize..." Kara smiled weakly. Wisps of darkness rose from her injured body as a result of Ansem's attack. "It could've been... a lot worse. You guys need to go. Seal that door."_

 _"But, what about you?" Donald dropped to his knees beside her._

 _"Yeah, we're all in this together, right?" Goofy said in an attempt to get her back up, but Kara shook her head with a soft giggle._

 _"Always." Closing her eyes, Kara took in a deep breath as the darkness rising from her limbs spread. She dug her fingertips into the coarse sand underneath her and clenched her teeth. "All for one... and one for all."_

 _"Y-You're fading!" Sora observed and knelt down. "Donald, you have to cast Cure or something!"_

 _"It's not going to help this time," Kara said, resting a calm hand on his. Her amber eyes became serious and met with Sora's blue orbs. "Close the door, Sora. It's... It's up to you. Use the Keyblade to save the worlds not taken by the darkness."_

 _"I can't leave you here," Sora shook his head. "We have to find Riku and the king still."_

 _Kara's eyes were half-lidded as she studied Sora's surprisingly stern expression. She smiled at him and thought about the mission they were determined to finish together. To find their friends and return home. Her memory flashed to the message she read at the World Terminus, in the fragment world of Hollow Bastion. It replayed over and over in her head, until she finally realized what it meant._

 _It hurt to move, but Kara shifted around to her front and rose to her knees. Donald and Goofy protested and insisted that she lie back down, but she was determined to do what she wanted. Sora kept his arm locked with hers so that she wouldn't fall._

 _"Kingdom Hearts..." she muttered, bowing her head. "Riku and I wanted to use it to save Kairi. I wanted to use it to save Riku and..."_

 _Pausing, Kara lifted her head to see the tall doors overlooking them and the void behind. She could hear a faint call coming from it- the call to put an end to the darkness. Perhaps that was motivation enough to get back up. The urging from her friends and the mysterious voice calling out to her from the other side of that door. Dropping her head again, Kara laughed weakly. She looked down at her numb hands and watched the darkness eating away at them._

 _She was suffering but refused to be vocal about it. The last thing she wanted was for her friends to see her in such agony, though it might have been clearly written on her face. In the back of her mind, she wondered if this was punishment for not staying entirely on the path of light._

 _"Donald... Goofy..." Kara looked to the king's trusted pals. "Go."_

 _Reluctantly listening to her quiet plea, the two walked ahead to the door. Their pace was slow._

 _"Kara," Sora's eyes teared up._

 _"Don't worry," she nodded slowly. "We'll meet up again."_

 _"Where are you running off to this time?" he questioned her, letting a single tear fall. "I thought we were in this together._

 _"I'll find my way back... through the darkness..." Kara declared._

 _"Promise?" Sora tearfully asked her, holding out his pinkie finger._

 _"I promise." Kara locked her pinkie with his, making the promise official._

 _Her body was fading rapidly now, but she refused to go without saying more to Sora. There was so much she needed to tell him, but the time she had left was so little._

 _"Don't go thinking you have to do this alone," she said. Her eyes flashed to the door. "One door. Two keys. I'll be on the other side..."_

 _Sora watched his best friend fade away completely. Nodding to himself, Sora refused to let it get to him and chose to follow the last bit of instruction she left. The door needed to be closed and locked, or else their work would be undone. He vowed in his heart to not let that happen._

* * *

 _"Come on!"_

 _Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran to the slowly opening door to stop it from going any further. The Keyblade master took one side while the others were on the other, and he pushed with all the strength he had in him. They managed to stop it in place, but the darkness on the other side was fighting against them._

 _Goofy stopped pushing and peeked inside, curiosity getting the best of him. But what he saw on the other side of the door took him by surprise. He was visibly rattled and let out a gasp, which annoyed Donald._

 _"Stop staring and keep pushing!" the court magician ordered. Yet, in his irritated state, he couldn't help but peer inside. "Wack!"_

 _Slithering around the unusual rock formations beyond the door, their eyes beheld thousands of yellow eyes and a mass of darkness approaching._

 _"The Heartless?!"_

 _"Hurry!" Donald shouted, pushing his back even harder against the door._

 _"I can't..." Sora groaned. His arms became weak, for he was running out of strength._

 _He was about to give up, when a gloved hand shot out from the other side of the door. Sora jumped in his skin as it latched onto the door. But, suddenly, his shoulders relaxed. "Don't give up!" A familiar and welcome voice urged him on._

 _Riku poked his head out from behind the door, and his eyes met with Sora's. He smirked and nodded to the boy, "Come on, Sora! Together, we can do it!"_

 _"Okay," Sora smiled._

 _Their strength was renewed with Riku's help, but even then... The doors were not budging fast enough. More Heartless were appearing, and they were threatening to attack them as they tried to close the door of darkness. Glancing over his shoulder, Riku spotted several Darkside Heartless rising from the canyon behind him._

 _"It's hopeless!" Donald cried, shaking his head._

 _But, then a golden light sliced through the Darkside and incoming Shadows. Sora, Donald, and Goofy watched as the threat gradually diminished. The light burned even brighter when a peculiar silhouette stood atop one of the rock formations._

 _Big ears, red shorts, and big yellow shoes. Donald and Goofy were perhaps the happiest seeing the late arrival. Tardy or not, they couldn't believe their eyes. Hope was returning, and they were eager to see the mission to the end. "Your Majesty!"_

 _Their surprise hero, the king who they were searching for, raised a golden Keyblade above his head. Sora's eyes widened in shock. It looked a lot like his, except the colors were different. He never knew that their king could wield a Keyblade, too. It was a pleasant surprise, really. There were so many questions running through his head._

 _"Now, Sora!" the king called out to the blue-eyed boy. "Let's close this door for good!"_

 _"Close it, quick!" Donald chimed in._

 _"But..." Sora appeared hesitant. He knew what would happen if they closed it now._

 _Apparently knowing what he was thinking, the king lowered his Keyblade and looked over his shoulder at Sora. A bright smile spread on his face as he spoke in a comforting tone. "Don't worry. There will always be a door to the light."_

 _"Sora, you can trust King Mickey," Goofy reassured the young Keyblade Wielder._

 _"Now! They're coming!" Riku exclaimed as the Heartless loomed even closer._ _The light emanating from King Mickey dimmed down as he turned to the heroes on the other side of the door._

 _"Donald, Goofy, thank you," King Mickey said._

 _Their hearts ignited with a burning light as they put in one last effort to close it. This time, it was working. They were able to move the massive doors, but Riku and the king did not attempt to go through before it closed. Riku turned his head to see Sora one more time, but he frowned when he didn't see Kara. Deep down, he knew something might have happened, but he still had to tell Sora..._

 _"Take care of her."_

 _Sora nodded and moved forward with the plan. The door closed with a boom, prompting him to jump back and bring out his Keyblade again. On the other side, King Mickey did the same as Sora, using the Keyblade to seal the door. It was enveloped in arising pillar of light, which it faded into._ _Now that the door was sealed, their mission was accomplished. The darkness would no longer threaten the worlds. Peace was going to be restored, but it was at a cost._

 _He wanted to let the tears fall, but Sora's eyes were dry. Something was bubbling in his heart. An emotion he didn't understand. At least, he didn't understand why he was feeling it now. Happiness. Peace. It came as he remembered the fun times he spent back home with Riku and Kara. When they would sit on the dock and talk about the usual kid stuff. They laughed together back then. Or when they sat around on the tree growing paopu fruit. Days when Sora and Riku wrestled around. Kara always jumped on them for being too rough. And, when he raced Riku, Kairi, and Kara down the beach..._

 _"..." Sora lowered his head and bit his tongue. A flood of emotion was washing over him, until he felt another presence. Turning around, Sora spotted Kairi standing in the middle of the grainy sand. She looked lost. But, how did she get there? Not thinking twice, Sora ran over to her, though Donald wanted to stop him. Soon, the time would come for them to be separated again. "Kairi!"_

 _"Sora!" she gasped and went to go to him, but the ground beneath her feet shifted. Soft and fresh sand sunk under her shoes. Salty water splashed to life. A violent rumble made her wobble, but Sora's hand steadied her. "Ah!"_

 _"Kairi!" Sora held her hand for as long as he could. "Remember what you said before? I'm always with you, too. I'll come back to you. I promise!"_

 _"I know you will!" Kairi replied and tried to hold on, but they were split apart. She was pulled away, back to the world that was piecing back together. A mysterious light engulfed Sora and the others until she could no longer see them. In her heart, she could still feel that they were there. Just farther away than she hoped._


	67. Epilogue: Empty Roads

_Sora rested his arms behind his head as he walked down the long, windy road with Donald and Goofy. None of them had any idea where they were headed now, but he felt no concern for the destination. Not too much, anyway. It was a beautiful world, at least._

 _Donald sighed and looked up at the other two, "Well, now what do we do?"_

 _"We've gotta find Riku, Kara, and King Mickey," Sora said, admiring the blue sky._

 _"But, uh..." Goofy poked his bottom lip with his index thoughtfully. "Where do we start lookin' for that there door to the light?"_

 _All three stopped walking as realization settled in. Recognizing that they were at a loss, the trio dropped their shoulders in a depressive manner. They thought about it over and over at that moment, but nothing was coming to mind. Not until Sora noticed a lanky dog strolling across the road. It had a light green envelope in its mouth._

 _"Pluto?" Donald quacked._

 _"Hey, Pluto!" Goofy waved to the yellow dog. "Where've ya been?"_

 _"Gwarsh, that's the king's seal!"_

 _At the last minute, Goofy noticed the peculiar seal on the envelope Pluto carried. It was a good sign that they were on the right track, but they needed another clue to know which way to go from that point._

 _"Have you seen King Mickey?" Sora asked, but Pluto ran the other way._

 _The three grinned wide, figuring out that Pluto wasn't just running away. He was going to take them right to the king, but they needed to hurry up and follow after him. Running as fast as they could, Sora, Donald, and Goofy chased after Pluto in hopes of meeting with the king. Maybe, just maybe, it'd lead them back to all their friends._

 _Faintly, as he ran, Sora could hear a whisper calling out to him..._

 ** _"Remember, Sora. You are the one who will open the door to the light."_**

* * *

 _There was darkness everywhere. The Realm of Darkness was almost exactly what she though it'd be, except it was a tad darker. Landmasses with glowing blue cracks in them stood tall all around. No people. No sounds. All she could see were shadows and an empty road. Her eyes beheld nothing more than darkness behind her, so surely it would be the same up ahead._

 _Kara walked aimless down the single road. She shivered from the bite of the cold as she stepped along the rocky path, but it didn't bother her for too long. As cold as the dark was, her body was gradually growing more accustomed to it within the short time she had been there._

 _"I wonder..." she muttered, hopping up onto a small hill overlooking the rest of the road. Her eyes scanned the rest of the way but could only see so far due to the mist of darkness rolling through. "I could have sworn that I heard Riku's voice."_

 _"Hiiisssss..."_

 _Blinking a couple of times, Kara turned around to see the dark figure behind her. She felt no fear. Rather, relief filled her when she saw the pair of yellow eyes looking straight at her. Smiling, Kara nodded and turned back around._

 _"Well, you and I have a long way to go," she said. "Come on, Guardian, let's look for a way back home to our friends."_

 _The way back was not going to be an easy journey, however. She realized that when she saw dozens of Shadows appearing all around. Within the dark realm, the pureblood Heartless she knew to be her enemy roamed free. It wouldn't be like her first adventures, where she was able to rest easy. Each passing day, if time really did go by in this realm, too, would be a fight for her life._

 _Looking down at her hands, Kara frowned. Her gaze trailed over the approaching Heartless as she thoughtfully planned her way through. No matter how she looked at it, it'd be incredibly difficult without the Keyblade. Guardian- her other half- would be her protector, but what could she do? Magic? Punch and kick? The options she had were limited._

 _Nonetheless, Kara stood firmly and regained her smile. She had too much to lose, so she couldn't give in to the darkness now. Her heart would overcome the great obstacle of the Realm of Darkness._

 _"I have a promise to keep," Kara said quietly. "Sora and the others are waiting for me. I can't let them down. I'll get through this, no matter what I have to do."_


End file.
